Mahela Jayawardene feels tactical blunder cost England semis against New Zealand: T20 World Cup 2021

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene believes Chris Jordan’s decision to bowl James Neesham round. The wicket was a tactical error that contributed to England’s semi-final loss to New Zealand.

Therefore, England pacer Jordan conceded 23 in the 17th over with New Zealand. Requiring 57 off 24 to win the T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final. He walked around the wicket to Neesham and let the Kiwi left-hander swing his arms freely. Mahela Jayawardene

“The par score was 160-165, you needed that extra 15-20 runs. New Zealand held their nerves, batted deeper, put a couple of England bowlers under pressure and they just could not execute. That over from Jordan, who is renowned for his death bowling, and that plan to come round the wicket… Jordan bowled to Jimmy Neesham’s arc. That’s probably where England went wrong and handed over that momentum to New Zealand,” Jayawardene said.

Jordan may have sought to bowl over the wicket to keep the ball out of Neesham’s hitting zone, according to former India bowler Ajit Agarkar.

“You can get it wrong on the day but the one thing you don’t want to do is try and bowl length balls to Neesham coming towards him. That’s the only place he has hit everything. After the first hit. If he wasn’t getting it right, he (Jordan) could have looked at going over the wickets, go out of his arc and bowl it wide.” He explained

Agarkar also baffled by England skipper Eoin Morgan’s decision to bowl leg-spinner Adil Rashid in the 18th over.

Adil Rashid

“Adil Rashid to Neesham at that point was a curious choice. Anything landing in the stumps was certainly going out of the park. At that point, they needed one or two hits.” He opined

Rashid let up two sixes in the 18th over, swinging the semi-final decisively in New Zealand’s favor.

According to former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody. He were missing Tymal Mills’ death-overs talents and were caught out when New Zealand went on the attack.

“Tymal Mills’ absence created quite a gulf in England’s death-overs strategy. To have Adil Rahid bowling as late as he bowl is a real gamble. You don’t want to be having those gambles at the pointy-end of the World Cup. To me, it looked like as soon as pressure was put on that England attack. They didn’t have the answers because they didn’t have the death resources they had in the past.” Moody pointed out

New Zealand chased down 167 for a place in the final in 19 overs, thanks to Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 72 off 47 and James Neesham’s 27 in 11.

Read more: Faf du Plessis says “Pakistan are the favorites to win” in T20 World Cup 2021

Visit also: Mark Boucher says “I certainly don’t think the door is closed for anyone” in the 2021 T20 World Cup

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