Rohit Sharma pointed the finger of blame at his bowlers after India’s crushing T20 World Cup semi-final defeat to England.
India’s T20 World Cup hopes were ended in remarkable fashion as England cruised to a comprehensive 10-wicket victory at the Adelaide Oval.
Sharma’s side were 80-3 after 13 overs and required some big hitting from all-rounder Hardik Pandya (63 from 33) to post 168-6.
But England made light work of the chase as Alex Hales smashed 86 from 47 and Jos Buttler hit 80 from 49 to seal victory with four overs to spare.
The India captain said: ‘It’s pretty disappointing how we turned up today. We still batted well especially at the back end to get that score but we were not good enough with the ball.
‘It was definitely not a wicket where a team should be able to come and chase that total in 16-17 overs. We just didn’t turn up with the ball.
‘When it comes to knockout stages it’s all about handling the pressure, and it comes down to individuals too.’
While Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel conceded 45 from their combined six overs, the rest of India’s bowling attack went the distance, with Mohammed Shami, Ravi Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pandya all going at more than 11 runs-per-over.
Sharma added: ‘You cannot teach how to handle that pressure. But all these guys have played enough cricket to understand that, when they play in the IPL and games like that it’s also really high pressure.
‘You’ve got to hold your nerve and stay calm but the way we started with the ball wasn’t good and that shows that we were nervy to start.
‘You have got to give credit to the England openers though, because they played so well. We wanted to keep it tight especially with the shorter boundaries but it didn’t happen today, and that is disappointing.
‘When we won that first game against Pakistan, that showed so much of our character. We also had a tricky game against Bangladesh, but we held our nerve there.
‘But it’s all about executing, and we didn’t do that today, and that’s when you’re in trouble.’
England are looking to win their second T20 World Cup title and face a Pakistan side in the final who have won four games in a row, including yesterday’s semi-final win over New Zealand.
Buttler insisted England’s victory in Adelaide was ‘as close to perfect as we can get’ but said his team still have ‘one last dance’ to go.
‘It certainly feels like it’s as close to perfect as we can get,’ said England’s white-ball captain.
‘We have shown character as a group since then, in a huge game against New Zealand, and then tonight to put in our best performance.
‘I’m immensely proud of the guys. To do it on a day like today in such a high-pressure game is immensely satisfying.
‘It’s important for us to enjoy this and this performance so we will reflect on that and enjoy it, but there is one last dance to go.’
England will become the first team to be crowned double world champions if they win the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and vice-captain Moeen Ali says that is now the target.
‘It was an unbelievable performance from ball one,’ the all-rounder told BBC Test Match Special. ‘It was everything we wanted, it was the game we were searching for.
‘We want to be known as a great white-ball team and to do that you have to win tournaments. There have been a few disappointments but it would be awesome to do it this time.’
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