NEW DELHI:  Gautam Gambhir, a former captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), a two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champion team, posted a coded message on social media on Thursday that appeared to express his displeasure with Rohit Sharma's team for falling to England in the ICC T20 World Cup semifinal at the Adelaide Oval.

Gambhir, who was instrumental in helping India win both the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup, added in his cryptic statement that reads: "You only expect from those who can deliver! Chin up boys (Three flags of India symbol."  A fan who responded to Gambhir's tweet inferred from what he had said, writing, "Man's (Gambhir) basically is admitting he had no expectations from this team from the start." Another fan claimed that too many IPL players from India and their lack of interest in ICC competitions and trophies were to blame for the 10-wicket loss to England.
"The players are being spooled (spoiled) by marketers and the IPL. Their performance in international cricket concerns them the least. They do well in the #IPL and earn a lot of money. Another supporter tweeted in response to Gambhir's statement, "This needs to end.

India hasn't won the trophy since the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, where they defeated Pakistan to win the championship in Johannesburg, and questions have been made about the team's strategy.
India scored 168 for six in 20 overs, mostly due to half-centuries from Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli, but England advanced into the championship game with four overs to spare owing to Alex Hales (86 not out) and captain Jos Buttler's unbeaten 80. The final will feature England vs. Pakistan.

Rahul Dravid, the head coach of India, has acknowledged that in the knockout round, his team was outperformed.
Being eliminated in the semifinals is obviously disappointing. Most likely would have loved to take things a little bit farther. But certainly, we really got outplayed and outclassed today," Dravid said following the game.
Since winning the ODI World Cup in 2011, India's recent performances have been consistently below average. Virat Kohli was the star batter in the 2014 T20 World Cup final versus Sri Lanka, but the other batsmen weren't up to the task in Dhaka. After Steve Smith hit a brilliant century in the 2015 ODI World Cup quarterfinal at SCG, their batting wilted under pressure from the scoreboard.

For India to reach a high total in the 2016 T20 World Cup at home, Kohli once again rose to the occasion. But in the semifinals, West Indies, in particular Lendl Simmons, easily chased down the goal. All was well for India in the 2017 Champions Trophy final until Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Amir changed the outcome in favour of Pakistan.

Rohit Sharma was in top form during the 2019 ODI World Cup semifinal until Matt Henry and company demolished the Indian batting order.