It's all about handling the pressure: Rohit Sharma highlights what went wrong in the Semi-final for Team India

India suffered a crushing blow at the hands of the England as their 2022 T20 World Cup journey met an unwanted end in the semi-final with their bowlers resigning in docile submission. Batting first India could pile up 168, thanks to half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya.

Despite a warring total on the board, the Indian bowlers could do very little to garner the required sting and the English openers managed to get the momentum rolling early on and they never looked back. Scoring at 10.62 runs per over, England crossed the finishing line with four overs to spare.

Rohit Sharma made clear in the post-match presentation the areas of concern in the forthcoming days. Talking about the contest with England, Rohit said, “It's pretty disappointing how we turned up today. I thought we still batted pretty well at the back end to get to that score, but we were not good enough with the ball. It was definitely not a wicket where a team can come and chase it down in 16 overs. With the ball we didn't turn up today.”

He also talked about the individual performances, stating, “When it comes to knockout stages, it's all about handling the pressure. Depends on the individual as well. You can't teach anyone to handle pressure. When these guys play the playoffs in the IPL and all that, those are high-pressure games, and they're able to handle it. The way we started with the ball was not ideal. We were a little nervy, but you have to give credit to the openers as well. They played really well.”

Highlighting the difference in execution between India’s last game at Adelaide and the semi-final, Rohit said, “When Bhuvi bowled the first over it swung today, but not from the right areas. We wanted to keep it tight, not give room, because square of the wicket was an area we were aware of - that's where the runs came today. If we keep it tight and the batsmen still score runs, we'll take it. But we didn't do that today. In the game against Bangladesh it was tricky as well, but I thought we held our nerve that day, executed well."