India’s batting approach in the powerplay at the 2022 T20 World Cup received criticism from all corners. R Ashwin, part of the unit, has now weighed in with his opinion about the importance of winning the powerplay overs in the shortest format.

He said on his YouTube channel: “The margins are very small when it comes to T20 cricket. You can lose by a single ball or by one run. Sometimes, we can lose during the powerplay itself. We might score 30 runs in the powerplay, whereas the opponent might score 60 runs. The game ends there.

“Some of them might not know this stat, but more than half of the games are won and lost in the powerplay itself. There are a lot of windows for experimentation when it comes to T20 cricket. We have the license to express ourselves and do some experiments in T20 cricket.”

Ashwin’s comments came a week after India’s semi-final ouster from the T20 World Cup at the Adelaide Oval. They managed only 38-1 in their first six 0vers in their clash against England, which they eventually managed to stretch to 168. In reply, eventual champions England started off aggressively, piling on 63-0 at the end of the powerplay, en route to a dominating win by 10 wickets and four overs to spare.

India’s overall batting template in the powerplay was under the scanner in the edition, where they struck at a rate of 95.85 – the fourth-worst in the competition. They struck a boundary every nine balls in the competition, and both their openers – KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma – struck at under a run a ball in the first six overs.

India could not reach 50 in the powerplay in any game. In their league games, they managed 31-3 against Pakistan, 32-1 against the Netherlands, 33-2 against South Africa, and 37-1 against Bangladesh before putting up their best show of 46-1 against Zimbabwe.

Rohit, the Indian captain, had urged the batters to start more aggressively in T20Is following their first-round exit in last year’s T20 World Cup. However, the inability to walk the talk, led by the skipper himself, who scored 27 off 28 balls against England, was criticised. Nasser Hussain commented that India has failed to evolve and keep going back to their “old ways” in knockout games.

The BCCI have sacked the entire selection committee in the aftermath of India’s exit. Reports also suggest that Rohit may be stripped off T20I captaincy in favour of Hardik Pandya.