Former England captain Michael Vaughan has questioned the lack of intent among Indian batters in their ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Match 30 against South Africa at the Perth Stadium. A top-order failure has put India in a massive spot of bother especially after captain Rohit Sharma (15) won the toss and chose to bat.
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First batter to get dismissed after finding himself in no position to pull South Africa fast bowler Lungi Ngidi, Sharma was followed to the dressing room by his vice-captain KL Rahul (9) and former captain Virat Kohli (12).
Introduced into the bowling attack as a first-change bowler by captain Temba Bavuma, all Ngidi needed to be among the wickets was a couple of balls. Ngidi, who also dismissed Rahul in the same over, sent back Kohli and all-rounder Hardik Pandya (2) to the pavilion to pick four wickets in his first three overs as India lost three wickets in as many overs right after the powerplay.
Michael Vaughan questions lack of intent by Indian batters vs South Africa at Optus Stadium
Vaughan, 48, took to social media platform Twitter to point out how the first over of the match had “set the tone” for an Indian batting collapse. Taking strike for the first ball of the match, Rahul didn’t make many efforts to not allow Wayne Parnell bowl a maiden over first up.
South Africa immense .. the first over set the tone .. it’s surprises how India sometimes start with such little intent to be really aggressive with the bat in T20 .. #ICCT20WorldCup2022
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) October 30, 2022
Rahul, who has had the audacity in the past to publicly opine that strike rate is overrated in the shortest format, returned to the pavilion after batting at a strike rate of 64.28 during his 14-ball stay in the middle.
Part of the top-order, Sharma (107.14) and Kohli (109.09) didn’t do any wonders either only to find the team being reduced to 49/5 even before the halfway mark.
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With batter Suryakumar Yadav playing a lone attacking hand at the moment, India would be hoping for their last hope to bat throughout the innings in a bid to power them to a respectable innings total.
