Kapil Dev hits out at ‘Chokers’ India

The fallout from India’s T20 semi-final loss to England still lingers as Kapil Dev branded his national side “chokers”.

After setting England a target of 169, Jos Buttler and Alex Hales put on a dominant display to thrash India by 10 wickets.

England will now play Pakistan in the final on November 13, 2022.

While the mood was high in the England camp post-match, less could be said for the Indians who slumped off the playing field in Adelaide following a dismal effort with the ball.

Rohit Sharma’s side have received plenty of criticism and now, Kapil Dev hit out at India for their failures.

He said: “See, now that the match is over, it is unfair that we should come down this hard on the Indian team.

“Yes, they did not play well and criticism is justified. But as far as today’s match, all we can say is that England read the pitch better and played better cricket.

“I will not dwell into the details and won’t go all out in bashing them because these are the same players who have gotten us a lot of respect in the past but yes, they are chokers.

“There is no denying it – after coming so close, they choke.

“I get it but I would still say that the team needs to look ahead.

“It’s time for the youngster players to come forward and take charge.”

Despite his review, Kapil Dev urged others not to be overly critical.

He added: “But don’t be too harsh. I agree, India played bad cricket, but we cannot be overly critical based on just one game.”

Following India’s defeat, Rohit Sharma said:

“When it comes to the knockout stages, it’s about handling that pressure. It depends on individuals as well.

“You can’t really go and teach how to handle pressure. All these guys have played enough cricket to understand that.

“Yeah, I mean, look, lot of these guys when they come out and play in the playoffs in the IPL and all of that, it’s a high-pressure game, some of these guys are able to handle that.

“When it comes to the knockout stages, it’s all about handling that pressure.”

“Holding yourself a little bit and keeping calm. I thought the way we started off with the ball was not ideal.

“That shows we were a little nervy to start off with the ball, but again we’ve got to give credit to those openers as well, they played really well.

“We wanted to keep it tight, not give room, we looked at Adelaide pretty well, we know where the runs are scored.

“Square of the wicket is what we were quite aware of, and that’s where all the runs went today.

“Keeping it tight is something we spoke of but from there if the batsman plays a good shot we’ll take it. But that is something that didn’t happen today and that is a little disappointing.”