A dejected Rohit Sharma blamed poor bowling as the main reason behind India’s 10-wicket loss to England in Thursday’s semi-final clash in Adelaide.

“We still batted pretty well at the back end to get to that score (168/6), but we were not good enough with the ball,” the India captain said at the post-match presentation.

“It was definitely not a wicket where a team can come and chase the target down in 16 overs. But with the ball, we didn’t turn up today (Thursday).

“If we keep it tight and the batsmen still score runs, we’ll take it. But we didn’t do that in this game.”

It’s the third time since the 2016 World T20 semi-final that India couldn’t progress beyond the last-four stage of a World Cup. On that perspective, Rohit said: “When it comes to knockout stages, it’s all about handling the pressure.

“It depends on the individual as well as you can’t teach anyone to handle pressure. These guys play the playoffs in the IPL and all that, which are high-pressure games, and they’re able to handle it.

“The way we started with the ball was not ideal. We were a little nervy, but you have to give credit to the (England) openers as well.”

Hardik Pandya’s 33-ball 63 was the lone positive emerging out of this game for India, though head coach Rahul Dravid feels the team total should have been around 180-185.

“When the game started, the boys were saying it (pitch) was a little bit tacky and slower. Having said that, they (England) bowled really well and were really good upfront. They hit good lengths and didn’t really let us get away.

“We felt at that 15-over mark, we were probably 15-20 short, though we had a good last five overs. Hardik was absolutely brilliant, but I think we should have been able to get to 180-185 on that wicket.

“Maybe things might have been different with an early wicket after that,” Dravid said at the news conference.