Aussie legend slams India's decision-making in T20 WC: 'That's everything that went wrong'

Former Australian cricketer-turned-coach Tom Moody has slammed India's decision-making in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2022. Moody, while speaking on ESPNcricinfo, said the Rohit Sharma-led side's decision to send Rishabh Pant in the final over of the Indian innings impacted the Men in Blue's pursuit of a big total. Moody suggested that Pant deserved to be sent early in their innings because not doing so was a complete waste of the resource. 

"The example you have there of Pant coming in the 19th over. That's everything that went wrong with India's pursuit of a total. Because how could you have a resource like that left and have the total they've got? If he's coming in the 19th over, you'd expect the score to be 180 or 190. But having that as a wasted resource is purely because of the brand that was demonstrated for 70% of the innings. In my opinion, 60 or 70% of that innings was not the modern brand that is going to be good enough to win the T20 World Cup," Moody said.

Why Rohit Sharma played Pant in the semifinal?

The Indian team management decided to go with Pant in the semifinal against England after playing Dinesh Karthik as the first-choice wicketkeeper for most of the tournament. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma explained at the toss that the reason behind picking Pant ahead of Karthik in the semifinal was the short square boundaries at Adelaide Oval and also the presence of leg-spinners in the England team. However, the decision did not sit well with many observing the game from the outside as they felt Pant should have been played from the start of the competition. 

Pant scored 6 off 4 balls in the semifinal against England before being run-out in the last over. He sacrificed his wicket for Hardik Pandya, who was in form and was most suited to hit sixes in the remaining deliveries of the over. Pant was also part of the playing XI in India's last Super 12 match against Zimbabwe, where he scored 3 off 5 balls before being dismissed by Sean Williams. 

Image: BCCI