England thrashed India by 10 wickets in the T20 World Cup semi-final against England. While the superior side on the ground, they were also clear winners in the tactical battle, as Abhishek Mukherjee explains.
In cricket, when things fall apart for a side, they often do so at the same time. And in Twenty20 cricket, this happens too rapidly for most teams to recover. KL Rahul hit the first ball of the semi-final for four, but India fell behind in the game thereafter.
Hardik Pandya tried to bring his side back into it with an array of spectacular strokes, but the more England’s innings expanded in magnitude, the punier India’s efforts seemed. England were the better side – and that is an understatement – but they won the tactical battles too.
The why and when of Rishabh Pant
India went in with an unchanged side – in other words, they retained Rishabh Pant. Dinesh Karthik, brought into the squad as a ‘finisher’, had lasted two balls against Pakistan, an inevitable part of his high-risk role.
Against South Africa, when nearly the entire line-up caved in, he had to adapt to an uncharacteristic role,
