Dressing room report: Indian middle-order batter kept questioning Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul's slow approach in powerplay

After suffering a humiliating 10-wicket defeat at the hands of mighty England in the semi-final at the Adelaide Oval, Team India's dream of ending their ICC trophy drought came to a grinding halt. The staunch followers of Indian cricket are still struggling to process the defeat in the semi-final as the Men in Blue were the prime contenders to clinch the glittering trophy. While several questions are being asked and a thorough postmortem is likely to ensue, Sports Tak understands that during the T20 World Cup, there was an Indian middle-order batter who kept questioning openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul's approach in the powerplay.

According to reports, the middle-order batter, during meetings voiced his concern about having too much to do as the opening pair kept putting on a ton of pressure on the middle-order with a lackluster approach during the time when the field restrictions were on.

The opening partnership of captain Rohit and his deputy Rahul was a complete flop during the entire 2022 T20 World Cup, and as a result, the Men in Blue had to pay a heavy price. Aaj Tak's Managing Editor Vikrant Gupta and India Today's Consulting Editor Nikhil Naaz said on Sports Tak, "A player from Team India's middle-order kept saying every time after the match that you guys (top-order) are playing too slow at the top. As a result, there is a lot of pressure on the middle-order. How many times will we be able to save the team?"

The Indian middle-order of includes Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant but who raised the question during team meetings is still unknown.

Powerless in powerplay

Rohit and Rahul struggled immensely in the powerplay overs as the opposition's fast bowlers kept the Indian duo quiet. India were second from the bottom in terms of their performance in the powerplay. The Indian team scored an average of 37 runs in six overs in 6 matches of the T20 World Cup 2022.