It was deja vu once again for India in the T20 World Cup 2022. They won 4 out of 5 matches in the group stages to finish at the top of the points table. But, then another semi-final defeat was waiting for them as England thumped India to hand them a heavy defeat.
Overall, the World Cup campaign wasn’t bad for them, but they were over-relying on a few players. Kohli and SKY carried them with the bat while Pandya’s all-round show kept them afloat. Several players struggled to live up to the expectations, and they were unable to click in the crunch contests.
Here’s the report card of the Indian team at the World T20 2022 by Sportiqo:
1) Virat Kohli (8/10)
Kohli has always stood up for India in big matches, and it was no different in this tournament. His 82* off 50 against Pakistan gave India a memorable win, and he fought hard with a 40-ball 50 vs. England in the semi-final. However, he would have liked to play a more fluent knock in the semis.
In 6 matches, he scored 296 runs at a strike rate of 136.41. With 4 half-centuries and two important knocks in big games, he was certainly India’s best player in the tournament.
2) Hardik Pandya (7.5/10)
Pandya’s average of 25.6 and strike rate of 131.96 don’t look impressive, but he was on top of his game on two big occasions, just like Kohli. His 40-run knock vs. Pakistan was extremely crucial, and he also played a blinder (33-ball 63*) against England.
With the ball in hand, he took 8 wickets in 6 games at an economy rate of just 8.11. He was a real fighter for India in this struggling campaign.
3) Arshdeep Singh (7/10)
Arshdeep was India’s highest wicket-taker at the World Cup, as he claimed 10 wickets in 6 matches. With an economy rate of just 7.8, he was undoubtedly India’s best bowler in his first World Cup. Also, he performed in 2 of the 3 pressure matches.
Against Pakistan, he bagged 3 scalps, including Babar and Rizwan, in the powerplay. His double wicket opening over vs. South Africa provided India a chance to defend a low total against them. Against England, he gave away 15 runs in 2 overs without getting a wicket.
4) Suryakumar Yadav (6/10)
SKY’s 239 runs in the tournament came at an average of close to 60 and an SR of almost 190. These numbers are quite stupendous, but he wasn’t as good as his stats in this tournament. His 2 out of 3 half-centuries came against Netherlands and Zimbabwe.
He played a high-class knock vs. South Africa but failed against Pakistan and England. His two failures in pressure games made a massive impact on the game.
5) Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/10)
Bhuvi had a disappointing World Cup campaign, to say the least. He got just 1 wicket against Pakistan and was wicketless against South Africa and England. Overall, he has just 4 wickets against his name in 6 matches.
His economy rate of 6.16 is indeed impressive. But he didn’t make much difference in any of the games in the event.
6) Mohammed Shami (4/10)
Like Bhuvi, Shami had a quiet tournament with the ball. He picked one wicket each against Pakistan and South Africa but was smashed for 39 for 0 in 3 overs vs. England. Overall, he picked 6 wickets in 6 games at an economy rate of 7.15 and didn’t make any significant contributions to team India.
7) Ravichandran Ashwin (2/10)
Out of Ash’s 6 wickets in 6 matches, 5 came against the Netherlands and Zimbabwe. His overall economy rate was 8.16, and he went wicketless against Pakistan and England while grabbing just one wicket for 43 runs vs. South Africa.
8) Axar Patel (1.5/10)
Axar came into the side for Jadeja, and his two outings with the bat resulted in 9 runs in as many balls. With the ball in hand, he got 3 wickets across 5 games while going at 8.63 runs per over.
9) Rohit Sharma (1/10)
It’s fair to say that Rohit was the biggest disappointment for India in this year’s World T20. Apart from his 53(39) vs. the Netherlands, he could only manage 63 runs in 5 matches while facing 70 deliveries. He failed miserably against Pakistan, South Africa, and England.
10) K L Rahul (1/10)
Like his opening partner, he was in a spot to bother in the mega event. He scored fine 50s vs. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe but failed in all three pressure games.
Apart from those two half-centuries, KL didn’t enter the double figures even once. These performances might end the T20 International career of one of the best IPL batsmen.
11) Dinesh Karthik (1/10)
DK scored just 14 off 22 in his three outings. He scored just one boundary in three innings and had a forgettable tournament.
12) Rishabh Pant (1/10)
Pant was drafted into the playing XI for DK, but his performances were no different from Karthik’s. He faced only 9 balls in 2 games while scoring as many runs.
13) Deepak Hooda (1/10)
Hooda just played one game at the World Cup, where he scored a 3-ball duck vs. South Africa.
