Virender Sehwag lambasts Rohit Sharma for blaming bowlers for World Cup exit

Indian players after the defeat [Source: AP]

Team India suffered an embarrassing exit from the T20 World Cup as they were trounced by Jos Buttler-led England by 10 wickets in the semi-final at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

Speaking in the post-match conference, Indian captain Rohit Sharma said India's batting was good enough but their bowlers failed to deliver with the ball as England chased down 169 in just 16 overs without losing a wicket.

It was one-way traffic as England openers Jos Buttler and Alex Hales whacked unbeaten 80s to steamroll India. While Rohit felt that the bowlers let the team down, former India opener Virender Sehwag opined otherwise.

The former batting great blamed Indian batters' timid approach in the first 10 overs for their horrendous defeat. 

Highlighting New Zealand's defensive approach against Pakistan in the first semi-final that cost them a match, Sehwag said India lost the match in the first ten overs when their batters didn't provide them a flying start. 

Here's what Sehwag said

"If the top order has batted 12 overs to just score 82 runs (77), then expecting the rest of the batters to come in and play fearless cricket and score 100 runs in eight overs, that is also not right, 

"New Zealand played a certain way against Australia but they didn't do that again in the semi-final and they got knocked out. If India felt that they made an above-par total and it was the bowling unit's fault that the team lost, I don't agree with that. India lost the match in the first 10 overs when the batters did not give the kind of start that was required." 

Team India will travel to New Zealand for the white-ball series, comprising three T20Is and as many ODIs. The players selected for the tour will straightway fly to Auckland while the remaining team will travel back to India.

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