'Surface, venue, everything was in India's favour to reach T20 World Cup final but…': Nasser Hussain quashes narrative

Former England captain Nasser Hussain quashed the narrative of India getting favourable pitch, conditions and scheduling in the T20 World Cup after they marched to the final with a commanding 68-run win over the defending champions. Noted former England cricketers like Michael Vaughan, Hussain's former teammate, and David Lloyd have been quite vocal against ICC's decision to allot the second semi-final to India irrespective of their Super Eight standing and the fact that Rohit Sharma's men were the only top side not to play a single match under lights during the entire tournament. But not Hussain.

England's former No.3 and currently a renowned broadcaster, Hussain, said India deserved to be in the final as they battled different conditions to come out on top. In India's last Super Eight game against Australia, India got a placid batting track at St Lucia, where they smashed 205/5 to beat the 2021 champions by 24 runs. In the semi-final, they were greeted by a slow track at the Providence Stadium in Guyana, where the ball kept low quite often, making it hard for the batters to swing through the line.

"The narrative will be that everything on Thursday was geared towards India reaching the T20 World Cup final — the surface, the venue, all seemed to be in their favour. But if you look at things in greater detail, they came into this semi-final against England having just beaten 50-over world champions Australia on a bouncier, good pitch in St Lucia, and reverted to a lower, slower pitch and won comfortably. Fair play to them for the way they played and it feels right that India and South Africa, the two unbeaten sides in the tournament, go head to head in Barbados on Saturday," Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail.

Hussain said India's 171/5 was above par. It was possible mainly because of captain Rohit Sharma (57 off 39) and Suryakumar Yadav's (47 off 36) 73-run stand for the third wicket. India had to battle the early loss of Virat Kohli (9) and Rishabh Pant (4) and an untimely rain stoppage but they never lost momentum thanks to Rohit and Surya.

"India's score was only slightly higher than the 168 they put up in the 2022 semi-final they lost to England at the Adelaide Oval, but the difference in conditions to here in Guyana was chalk and cheese. A combination of seamers keeping the ball low and spinners turning it with no bounce made their 171 for seven a pretty decent score to defend, and Rohit Sharma showed his class by taking one of his favourite shots — the pull — out of the equation to make another half-century," Hussain said.

Hussain lauds Hardik's cameo

Credit must also be given to all-rounders Hardik Pandya (23 off 13), Ravindra Jadeja (17 off 9) and Axar Patel (10 off 6) for their cameos towards the end. Hardik's back-to-back sixes of Chris Jordan in the 18th over and Jadeja's two boundaries off Jofra Archer in the 19th proved crucial.

"Suryakumar Yadav addressed the lack of bounce by opening areas of the ground that other batters simply couldn't with his scoops and wristy flicks, and they were well supported by Hardik Pandya's muscly cameo," Hussain said.

In reply, England were never in the chase courtesy Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav. The defending champions were bowled out for 103 in 16.4 overs.