...and then fall

England’s victory against India means they cannot qualify for the semi finals of the ICC T20 World Cup. A week ago this would have been quite a shock but today no so – for me at least. India played poorly against West Indies and failed to improve against England. Result: two loses and out. Much has been made of the fact that the IPL and the huge pressure involved gives India an advantage. A couple of points about that:

• The IPL may be a great success but lots of games are won or lost by non-Indian players. Lots of Australians and South Africans make the big plays in IPL – not Indians.
• The IPL is a great training ground for everyone and the bigger players have more pressure – these are not generally Indians.
• I was staggered at the technical ineptness of the Indian batsmen. Suresh Raina who batted at three did not have any idea how to play the rising ball. He was there for the taking and England did. He would not last two minutes in a county match with a technique like that. Jadega was also poor and his inability to score quickly was nicely exploited by England.
• Indian bowlers were rubbish. Period.

England flipped from outclassed against South Africa and flopped into professional mode. They outplayed India in most departments and ‘won by 3 runs’ is one of those results which belies England’s dominance. England had really won three overs out. England now just need to beat West Indies today to book a semi final berth – something they have been doing all year. Easy. However, I think it’s a pretty even match. West Indies have played well in the competition and England may struggle to motivate themselves after the India game. England may flip their form again and this is essentially a final. Slip ups are fatal now.