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‘When you play an x-factor…’: Chopra laments Rishabh Pant's utilisation, points '7 overs of spin conceded only 41 runs’
Team India endured a heavy 10-wicket defeat against England in the semifinal of T20 World Cup in Adelaide on Thursday.
Team India endured a heavy 10-wicket defeat against England in the semifinal of T20 World Cup in Adelaide on Thursday. Chasing a challenging 169-run target, Jos Buttler and Alex Hales made a mockery of the target and completed it with four over to spare. The England skipper scored an unbeaten 80 off 49 deliveries, while his partner Hales, who also returned unbeaten, smashed 86 off 47 balls.
While the bowlers did disappoint, the batters also had a below par day barring Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli. While Kohli went to smash his fourth half-century at the tournament, Pandya's powerful display steered India to 168/6 in 20 overs. The all-rounder scored 63 in just 33 deliveries and was dismissed in the final ball of the inning.
However, former India opener Aakash Chopra made a stern assessment of India's batting performance, highlighting Rishabh Pant's role in the XI. The wicketkeeper-batter, who was included ahead of Dinesh Karthik, arrived in the middle in the 19th over, and only managed to stick around for four deliveries before being run-out on six.
However, Chopra underlined Pant's limited utilisation, considering his ability to strike the spinners and use the shorter boundaries to his advantage. Taking to Twitter, Chopra also pointed India's struggle against the tweakers.
“When you play an x-factor…you must find a way to get him involved. 7 overs of spin has conceded only 41 runs. With short square boundaries. Less than run-a-ball,” he tweeted.
If we look at the scorecard, England didn't use Moeen Ali as Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone led their spin attack. Rashid bowled his complete quota and conceded just 20 runs and scalped the important wicket of Suryakumar Yadav, who was caught by Phil Salt for 14 off 10 balls.
Livingstone, on the other hand, bowled three overs and gave 21 runs at an economy of seven runs per over.
