‘Keep your rubbish to yourself’: Harbhajan Singh gives mouthful to Vaughan for ‘silly’ ICC favouring India theory

Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh gave a mouthful to Michael Vaughan, albeit virtually, after the former England captain continued to blame the ICC for favouring India with a pre-decided venue for the T20 World Cup semi-finals. For commercial interests and to maximise Indian viewership, it was decided that India would play the second semi-final (if they qualify) in Guyana, irrespective of their standing in the Super Eight stage.

Vaughan said ICC were unfair to other teams by deciding to give India's semi-final at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. He took to X to vent out his frustration during the first semi-final between South Africa and Afghanistan. "Surely this Semi should have been the Guyana one... but because the whole event is geared towards India it’s so unfair on others… #T20IWorldCup," he wrote.

He continued to take indirect digs at India and ICC even during the India vs England semi-final. After it became clear that India were going to march to the final, Vaughan said the Rohit Sharma-led side was way better on slower and spinning wickets. "India throughly deserve to be in the final... The best team in tournament so far... Was always going to hard for England on this pitch... India just so much better on lower slower spinning pitches .. #T20IWorldCup."

A user was not amused by Vaughan's comments. "Now you won't cry about ICC giving semis to India in Guyana," he replied. Vaughan remained firm on his stance and said England would have won the semi-final if it was played at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba and that Guyana was a “lovely venue pick for India.”

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"If England had beaten SA they would have got the Trinidad semi and I believe they would have won that game .. So no complaints they haven’t been good enough .. But Guyana has been a lovely venue pick for India," Vaughan wrote.

Harbhajan took note of Vaughan's comments and decided to fire a verbal volley. In a strongly worded response, Harbhajan dismissed Vaughan's theory as "nonsense" and asked the former England batter to "stop being silly."

"What makes you think Guyana was a good venue for India ? Both Teams played on the same venue. England won the toss that was an advantage. Stop being silly. England was outplayed by India in all departments. Accept the fact and move on and keep your rubbish with yourself. Talk logic not nonsense," Harbhajan wrote.

Rohit, Kuldeep, Axar down England, India march to T20 World Cup final

The surface at the Providence Stadium in Guyana is known to be slow during day games. Despite this, England captain Jos Buttler opted to bowl after winning the toss. The early morning showers dictated his decision as England wanted to exploit moisture with the new ball.

That, however, did not happen. Despite multiple rain delays, the pitch did not offer anything to the seamers. England got only two wickets (Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant) in the powerplay. As the game went on, it became evident that the pitch was more suited for the spinners. The odd ball kept low and spinners got a lot of turn if they bowled slower through the air.

The seamers resorted to cutters and back-of-the-hand deliveries to make life difficult for the batters. The Indian batters, however, were up to the task. Captain Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav put on a terrific 73-run stand for the third wicket to make sure India ended up with an above-par total.

Rohit scored 57 off 39 balls, Surya ended up with 47 off 36. After their dismissals, Hardik Pandya (23 off 13) and Ravindra Jadeja (17 off 9) played cameos to push India's total to 171, which many believed was at least 15 runs above par.

As it turned out, it was 68 runs too many for England. India's left-arm spinners Axar Patel (3/23) and Kuldeep Yadav (3/19) got three wickets apiece as England had no answers against the turning ball. They were bowled out for 103 in 16.4 overs as India marched to the final.

India will battle South Africa for the title on Saturday.