T20 World Cup: Pundits scared of criticising India in fear of losing work, says Michael Vaughan – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

The Indian cricket team has faced a deluge of criticism and embarrassment following their 10-wicket loss at the hands of England in the semi-final on Thursday that sent them crashing out of the T20 World Cup.

Read: India’s overhyped fearless approach unearths to be sham

Team India were comprehensively outplayed by Jos Buttler and Co — the English skipper smashing an unbeaten 80 and stitching an unbroken 170-run opening stand with Player of the Match Alex Hales (86 not out) as the two toyed with a hapless Indian bowling unit and helped chase the 169-run target down without ever breaking a sweat.

While the Men in Blue were the subject of memes on social media and faced a barrage of criticism online, especially from angry and heartbroken fans, former England captain Michael Vaughan noted that many an expert was scared of criticising the team in fear of losing out on high-paying jobs in India.

“Nobody wants to criticise them because you get hammered on social media and pundits worry about losing work in India one day. But it is time to tell it straight. They can hide behind their great players but it is about getting a team playing the right way as a whole. Their bowling options are too few, they do not bat deep enough and lack spin tricks.

“I am just staggered by how they play T20 cricket for the talent they have. They have the players, but just do not have the right process in place. They have to go for it. Why do they give the opposition bowlers the first five overs to bed in?” Vaughan wrote in his column on The Telegraph.

Read: Time for India to make tough decisions after embarrassing exit

India had earlier got off to a slow start after being invited to bat at the Adelaide Oval, scoring just 38 runs in the powerplay after losing the wicket of opener KL Rahul early in the innings. While Virat Kohli brought up his fourth half-century of the tournament, wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end with Suryakumar Yadav departing for 14 and the Indians simply weren’t able to accelerate, reaching 80/3 at the end of 13 overs.

Thanks to the fireworks produced by Hardik Pandya (63 off 33 balls) in the death overs, the Men in Blue were able to cross the 150-mark that looked tough at one stage, and put up a decent total on the board

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