Former England captain Nasser Hussain has backed India to get on a roll once they end their ICC Trophy drought. Notably, India haven’t won an ICC event ever since their Champions Trophy triumph in 2013. They’ve come close to winning a major title on several occasions as they reached the knockout stages of ten out of the last 11 events. Nasser Hussain has been a strong advocate for team India’s performance amidst all the outside noise as the team is playing together.
They’ve reached the finals on five occasions since then but have failed to clinch the title on every occasion. Commenting on India’s dry run in major events, Nasser Hussain said that they’re just one tournament win away from getting on a winning run given the talented pool of youngsters they have in their team.
India beats England in T20 2024 semis to reach the semis.
India’s 171/5 was above par. It was possible mainly because of captain Rohit Sharma (57 off 39) and Suryakumar Yadav (46 off 37) 73-run stand for the third wicket. India had to battle the early loss of Virat Kohli (9) and Rishabh Pant (4) and an untimely rain stoppage but they never lost momentum thanks to Rohit and Surya.
India’s score was only slightly higher than the 168 they put up in the 2022 semi-final they lost to England at the Adelaide Oval, but the difference in conditions to here in Guyana was chalk and cheese. A combination of seamers keeping the ball low and spinners turning it with no bounce made their 171 for seven a pretty decent score to defend, and Rohit Sharma showed his class by taking one of his favorite shots — the pull — out of the equation to make another half-century.
Credit must also be given to all-rounders Hardik Pandya (23 off 13), Ravindra Jadeja (17 off 9) and Axar Patel (10 off 6) for their cameos towards the end. Hardik’s back-to-back sixes of Chris Jordan in the 18th over and Jadeja’s two boundaries off Jofra Archer in the 19th proved crucial.
Suryakumar Yadav addressed the lack of bounce by opening areas of the ground that other batters simply couldn’t with his scoops and wristy flicks, and they were well supported by Hardik Pandya’s muscly cameo. In reply, England were never in the chase courtesy Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav. The defending champions were bowled out for 103 in 16.4 overs.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain quashed the narrative of India getting favorable pitch, conditions and scheduling in the T20 World Cup after they marched to the final with a commanding 68-run win over the defending champions.
Nasser Hussain defends India’s 2024 T20 World Cup final spot amid ‘bias’ accusations
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has doffed his hat to India for surging to the final of the 2024 men’s T20 World Cup. The Men in Blue scripted a 68-run win over Jos Buttler’s team, amid accusations of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) bias for India.
Before the tournament, ICC had confirmed that irrespective of how India reached the semi-finals, they’d play the second contest, the day game in Guyana, instead of the evening match in Trinidad. This was supposedly done to allow Indian fans at home, who bring most of the revenue, to watch the game at prime time while also helping the traveling fans make their arrangements in advance.
When India did make it through, questions were raised on how Guyana historically offered a spin-friendly pitch, for which they could also start preparing earlier. However, Hussain believes India deserves to be in the summit clash as a reward for staying unbeaten at the 2024 T20 World Cup across various conditions.
“The narrative will be that everything on Thursday was geared towards India reaching the T20 World Cup final — the surface, the venue, all seemed to be in their favour,” he wrote in his column for Daily Mail.
“But if you look at things in greater detail, they came into this semi-final against England having just beaten 50-over world champions Australia on a bouncier, good pitch in St Lucia, and reverted to a lower, slower pitch and won comfortably. Fair play to them for the way they played and it feels right that India and South Africa, the two unbeaten sides in the tournament, go head to head in Barbados on Saturday.”
The match didn’t have a reserve day either which meant that had it been washed out, India would have qualified for the final thanks to their higher finish in the Super-Eights. But the ICC’ allotted double-than-usual buffer time for the game came in handy as a 40-over contest was completed despite early rain halts.
Nasser Hussain points out England’s wrong call at the toss
England also won the toss. By putting India to bat first, they kept history on their side; they had never lost a semi-final while batting second while India’s all defeats in ICC tournaments since 2021 had come while batting first.
But it worked in India’s favor as, like how Rohit Sharma guessed, the wicket got slower in the second innings and India’s braver approach worked wonders. This, Hussain believes, is the only question worth asking from Buttler.
“The one issue you could level at Buttler was his decision to insert India after winning the toss,” Hussain wrote in his Daily Mail column.
“Perhaps with rain around he was thinking about Duckworth Lewis, and it was a bit damp up front which might have given them a better chance of their opening bowlers Reece Topley and Jofra Archer nicking people off. But it should not distract from the fact England lost to a team who have had all bases covered in this competition.”
India will play South Africa in the final on Saturday, June 29 and would look to lift the T20I World Cup trophy for the 2nd time since 2007.