Rohit Sharma, who scored 27 in 28 deliveries against England in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final, criticised India’s bowlers for not raising their game in the 10-wicket loss.

Speaking after the defeat, Rohit said, “We batted well at the back-end to get that score. We were not up to the mark with the ball, we couldn’t turn up today. We were nervy to start with, but you’ve got to give credit to their openers, they played really well.”

The India bowlers were taken apart by the England opening duo of Jos Buttler and Alex Hales, who chased down India’s 168 with four overs to spare. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin, Mohammad Shami and Hardik Pandya all leaked more than 11 runs an over, failing to bowl with any threat as England ran away with the game.

However, Rohit has been criticised for seemingly throwing the bowlers under the bus after playing a questionable innings himself, failing to score at run-a-ball. KL Rahul departed for five, before Rohit looked to steady the ship along with Virat Kohli. The India skipper was unable to break free, and even though he hit four boundaries, his struggles, especially against spin, stalled the run-flow in the middle overs.

When he departed, India had scored 56-2 in 8.5 overs, leaving the rest of the batters with plenty of catching up to do. Hardik Pandya did score a 33-ball 63*, but the slow start ensured that India only managed a par score on the board.

His words, where he took a dig at the bowlers, thus, did not go down well with the pundits.

I'm sorry but Rohit Sharma blaming the bowlers and saying “they didn't handle the pressure” is completely off the mark. The game was lost in India’s batting powerplay – the “short square boundaries” were missing when India batted. 168 was never going to be enough.

— Vishal Misra (@vishalmisra) November 10, 2022

Rohit was right about India's bowlers but also wrong to throw them under the bus. And right through the tournament, he tried to bat like a proper T20 opener but struggled to make it happen. In all, a strange and sad World Cup for him.

— Karthik Krishnaswamy (@the_kk) November 10, 2022

Rohit blaming the bowlers.. it was a 180+ wicket. What about the batters? Their first 10 overs was terrible.

— Menners 🎙 (@amenners) November 10, 2022

Sorry Rohit, the batters didn't turn-up too. Not the time to throw bowlers under the bus.

— Venkata Krishna B (@venkatatweets) November 10, 2022

There was so much wrong with how India approached this game, I can't even get started. But the bowling was the least of our worries. And yet Rohit Sharma says the bowlers didn't turn up. Sigh

— Abhimanyu Bose (@bose_abhimanyu) November 10, 2022

Rohit's statement saying the bowlers did not turn up is very disappointing. Batters did not turn up too, this is the main reason why players like Sanju Samson & Prithvi Shaw are not getting T20Is on consistent basis as skipper believes batting was alright. #T20WorldCup

— Vishesh Roy (@vroy38) November 10, 2022

Very strange Rohit Sharma interview, pinning India defeat entirely on the bowlers.
Given how quickly Hales and Buttler scored without taking crazy risks, surely India’s batting was the real issue.

— Steve Madeley (@SteveMadeley78) November 10, 2022

Rohit blaming the bowlers. Fair enough. 🙄

(Not that bar Hardik, the rest fudged around at a run a ball.)

— Charles Dagnall (@CharlesDagnall) November 10, 2022

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