The England Test captain Ben Stokes expressed his view on the defending champions being knocked out of the ongoing Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America, after they lost the semi-final against India, under the captaincy of Jos Buttler, at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
Winning the toss, quite surprisingly on a dry surface, the two-time champions decided to bowl first, keeping the rain prediction in mind, which was expected to come under the equation towards the backend of the innings.
Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav batted quite beautifully in the semi, as their half-centuries pushed them to a huge score towards the end of the innings, as the likes of Hardik Pandya and India’s lower order kept on smashing the big shots to carry them to 171/7 in their 20-overs.
‘There was a little bit of unwarranted criticism’- Ben Stokes
The England red-ball skipper Ben Stokes spoke about how it was a tough road for the team to make their way into the semi-final, but they stood there as a unit in the tournament.
On that sort of a track, it was always going to be challenging to face the three quality India spinners, before which the England batters had to deal with the two inform pacers- Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah, who used their variations quite early even with the new ball to make life tough for the batters in the middle.
Jos Buttler and Phil Salt had a small start in the batting, but the former’s unnecessary reverse sweep on the very first ball of Axar Patel opened up the channel, as the whole line-up fell like a pack of cards. The 68-run showed how brutally dominant the 2007 champions were in the contest.
‘Devasted for Jos (Jos Buttler), Matty (Matthew Motts), and everyone being involved out there- all the players and the staff. It wasn’t an easy road for them to get to the semi-final.’ The former T20I player for England Ben Stokes expressed this in a chat with ‘Sky Sports’.
The 2010 champions began their campaign against Scotland in a washed-out game in Barbados before they were humiliated against Australia at the same ground. The need of the time for them was to get big wins over Oman and Namibia, and once they did that, and a few equations fell in their favor, they got the qualification for the ‘super eight’ stage.
‘There was obviously a little bit to do with the weather which could have affected us, and a little bit of unwarranted criticism, which you always seem to get being an English team for some reason.’ Ben Stokes remarked in the chat. ‘But we got through to another major tournament semi-final, which is no mean feat with some seriously good teams out there.’
Their win over West Indies in the first of the three ‘second round’ games gave them so much confidence before they fell short against South Africa even from a comfortable position. Their huge win over the USA was enough to push them to the semi-final of the tournament.
‘You’ve got to give credit to India, the way that they played in a big game. You’ve got to give credit to them, and it’s going to be a great final to watch—two very good teams who’re playing very good cricket.’ The left-handed dashing batter Ben Stokes praised the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team.
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England is not playing another T20I game till September when they take on Australia, and questions have already started to grow over the captaincy future of Buttler. The all-rounder, however, is hopeful about the team’s performance in the future.
‘Very disappointed for the team, but I think they can come back from the West Indies with their heads held high, knowing that they threw everything at India in that semi-final.’ Ben Stokes concluded. ‘It didn’t go their way, but again, the team’s progressing, and that’s all you can ask for in team sport—making sure that you’re always seeing progression.’
England will face Australia next in a three-match T20I series, starting on September 11, at The Ross Bowl in Southampton.