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SPORTS NOVEMBER 18, 2022 | The Indian Eye 39

ments in this tournament. Some indi- Pakistan skipper Babar Azam
viduals showed quality and skills. But (3,323) and Ireland opener Paul
today, we were just not good enough. Stirling (3,181).
I am sure we can look back on it and
move forward,” he added. It was fantastic to
watch Hales: Jos Buttler
On the future of senior players ollowing his side’s ten-wicket
like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, thumping victory over India

Bhuvneshwar Kumar etc in the Fin the semi-final of the ICC
T20 World Cup, England skipper Jos
shorter format, Dravid said that Buttler hailed opener Alex Hales’s
it is too early to talk about it. blistering knock and said that it was
“fantastic” to watch the batter slam
Indian bowlers all around the ground.
Dravid admitted that playing The England opening duo put
overseas T20I leagues would help on a stellar show in Adelaide as they
Indian players but it has its share of went on to hammer the Indian bowl-
challenges. ers right from the beginning of their
“Our boys do miss out on such innings.
opportunities. BCCI is there to take It was Hales, who smashed In-
decisions. But if all players are al- dian bowlers earlier in the innings as
lowed to play in such leagues, we Buttler played the second fiddle. Jos
would not have our domestic crick- Buttler and Alex Hales made a chase
et. Ranji etc would be finished, Test of 169 look like a cakewalk. Buttler
cricket would be finished. We have scored 80* from 49 balls, with Hales
to understand the challenges that In- playing an unbeaten knock of 86
dian cricket faces in such situations. from 47.
Our boys are being asked to play in “Hales absolutely delivered in
such leagues. But then playing Tests space. He is immensely tough to
is also important for the format,” he bowl at. It was fantastic to be at the
added. other end and watch him go. He has
With this, the final between En- been in such a wide range of shots
gland and Pakistan is set. and you know the dimensions of the
ground. He played them fantastically
We failed to hold our nerves, well. Immensely proud that the guys
says Rohit Sharma played brilliantly in the tournament.
It was a high-pressure game and im-
ollowing his side’s ten-wicket mensely satisfied with the results,”
loss to England in the semifinal Hardik Pandya interacts with Virat Kohli during the Semi-Final match at Adelaide Oval in Jos Buttler said during a post-match
Fof ICC T20 World Cup, Indian Adelaide on Thursday (ANI) conference.
skipper Rohit Sharma said his side Buttler said his team played a
was not up to the mark with the ball spoilsport to an India and Pakistan
and failed to hold their nerves and in our plans. Could not do that today,” runs to his name. final clash and he knows that many
executing their plans. added Rohit. This was his fourth half-century people would have loved to see
“Pretty disappointed how it of the ongoing edition of the tour- the high-voltage clash between the
turned out today. We batted well at Kohli completes 1,100 runs in nament. He is currently the leading arch-rivals.
the back end to get that score. We T20 World Cups run scorer in the tournament so far. “You know there are certainly
were not up to the mark with the He has scored 296 runs in six innings few people who wanted that final of
ball, we could not turn up today. It ndia’s star batter Virat Kohli on at an average of 98.66. This also in- course. But certainly, for us, we are
is all about handling the pressure Thursday became the first batter cludes his instant-classic knock of desperate to get there. I said spoil
in knockout games. All these guys Ito complete 1,100 runs in T20 82* against Pakistan at Melbourne. that party and I am sure having seen
have played enough to understand World Cups. Kohli also became the first the first game of the tournament be-
that. These guys have played under India’s star batter accomplished player in history to cross the 4,000- tween India and Pakistan...... There
pressure in IPL games, it is all about this landmark during his side’s sec- run mark in T20I cricket. With this are a lot of people that would have
keeping calm,” said Rohit during a ond semifinal match of the ongo- half-century, loved to see another edition of that
post-match presentation. ing ICC T20 World Cup against Virat’s run-tally in T20I crick- but no we will have to wait for anoth-
“We were nervy to start with, but England at Adelaide Oval. In the et has gone to 4,008 runs in 115 er time.
you got to give credit to their open- semi-final match against England, matches across 107 innings at an av- Talking about his team’s huge
ers, they played really well. I thought Virat scored a delightful 50 off 40 erage of 52.73. One century and 37 victory over India in the semi-final
it swung a bit in the first over, but not balls. His knock consisted of four half-centuries have come out of his Buttler said, “We got off to a really
from the right areas. We know the boundaries and one six. He struck bat, with the best individual score of good start. We kept the pressure on
runs are scored square of the wick- the ball at a strike rate of 125.00. 122*. His strike rate in the shorter them. I think Rashid is down at num-
et, we were aware about it. When we On the second position in the format is 137.96. ber 11 today. Incredibly long batting
won the first game, it showed a lot of tally is Sri Lanka legend Mahela Other top batters in the short- line up which allows you to just keep
character. The game against Bangla- Jayawardene with 1016 while in the est format are Indian skipper Rohit going and play with so much free-
desh, it was a tricky one. I thought we third position is claimed by West In- Sharma (3,853), New Zealand open- dom. And I think that was a big part
held our nerve and kept executing dies great Chris Gayle who has 965 ing veteran Martin Guptill (3,531), of the day.”

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