T20WC: India's loss to England in semis 'disappointing' but let's not judge team by one defeat, says Tendulkar
Rohit Sharma
Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has defended the Rohit Sharma-led side that was ousted from the knockout stage of the T20 World Cup 2022 after losing to England in the semi-final.
Team India faced flak after their performance in the semis. Former English captain Michael Vaughan called India the "worst underperforming white-ball team in history".
Tendulkar also said that he was disappointed at the humiliating loss. However, he urged the critics not to "judge" the side based on one defeat.
During the semis on Thursday, England outclassed India and defeated the Men In Blue by ten wickets at Adelaide Oval after the batting line-up failed to fire, posting a total of a modest 168/6.
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Meanwhile, in a recent video to the news agency, the legendary batter said, "It was a tough game for us, 170 for no loss….that’s a bad defeat. Rather disappointing."
He added, "But also, let’s not judge our team only by this performance because we have been world number one T20 side as well. To get to that number one spot, it does not happen overnight. You have to play good cricket over a period of time and that is what the team has done."
"By no means I’m trying to say that these performances are okay, players also did not want to go out and fail. But every day it doesn’t happen. In sport, these ups and downs are there. It cannot be that victory is ours and losses are theirs. We have to be in it together," the Master Blaster further said.
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During the match, India scored 168 and while chasing it, Hales scored 86 and Buttler made 80 to inspire their team to win the crucial match with four overs to spare.
As per Tendulkar, 168 at the Adelaide Oval wasn’t a great total. He noted that the dimensions of the ground are completely different. Tendulkar said, "Side boundaries are really really short. Maybe 190 or around that would’ve been a good total. 168 at Adelaide is equivalent to 150 or so on any other ground and to me that is not a competitive total."
"Let’s accept that we did not put up a good total on the board. So was the case with our bowling, when it came to picking wickets we were unsuccessful," he added.