As the Indian cricket team booked their spot in the T20 World Cup final, beating England at the penultimate hurdle comprehensively, talks of the International Cricket Council’s ‘bias’ towards the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian team have gained momentum. Despite India’s thumping 68-run win against England, there are those who feel the shifting of venue for the Indian team, from Trinidad to Guyana, for the semi-final worked in their favour. However, England icon and former captain Nasser Hussain has quashed the talks, giving a mouth-shutting reply to those talking about ‘bias’.
“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.
Highlighting the biggest reason behind Team India’s T20 World Cup 2024 qualification, Nasser lauded the ability of Rohit Sharma‘s men to adapt, from bouncy pitches in the semi-final against South Africa to low-keeping spin-friendly wickets against England.
“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.
The former England captain also held special praise for India captain Rohit, batter Suryakumar Yadav and all-rounder Hardik Pandya for their performance against Jos Buttler‘s side.
“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.
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