2024 T20 World Cup: Naseer Hussain counters speculations of favourable conditions aiding India’s victory

India’s comprehensive victory over England filled Indian fans with joy as the wounds of the loss in the 2022 Semi Final to England have been healed to some extent. Many commentators including former England captain Michael Vaughan pointed to the venue and the pitch being favourable for spinners. Former England captain Naseer Hussain however gave the team the credit which is due to them. “The narrative will be that everything on Thursday was geared towards India reaching the T20 World Cup final — the surface, the venue, all seemed to be in their favour. But if you look at things in greater detail, they came into this semi-final against England having just beaten 50-over world champions Australia on a bouncier, good pitch in St Lucia, and reverted to a lower, slower pitch and won comfortably. Fair play to them for the way they played and it feels right that India and South Africa, the two unbeaten sides in the tournament, go head to head in Barbados on Saturday,” Naseer stated in a blog in Daily Mail. 

India throughly deserve to be in the final .. The best team in tournament so far .. Was always going to hard for England on this pitch .. India just so much better on lower slower spinning pitches .. #T20IWorldCup

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan)

India throughly deserve to be in the final .. The best team in tournament so far .. Was always going to hard for England on this pitch .. India just so much better on lower slower spinning pitches .. #T20IWorldCup

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) June 27, 2024

">June 27, 2024

Hussain acknowledged the contributions of the all-rounders with the ball as well as with the bat in India’s victory. He hailed Suryakumar Yadav’s approach under challenging conditions. “Suryakumar Yadav addressed the lack of bounce by opening areas of the ground that other batters simply couldn't with his scoops and wristy flicks, and they were well supported by Hardik Pandya's muscly cameo,” Naseer added. 

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