GUYANA: Rohit Sharma’s blistering half-century, followed by a dominant bowling display led India to thump England here at Providence Stadium on Thursday and qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 final.
Chasing a daunting 172-run target, England’s strong batting unit unfolded on just 103 runs and thus succumbed to a thumping defeat in the semi-final.
England captain Jos Buttler gave his side a decent start with a 15-ball 23 but perished on the first delivery of the fourth while playing a reverse sweep against Axar Patel.
The defending champions then lost three more wickets in quick succession and consequently slipped to 46/4 in 7.1 overs.
Coming out to bat at No.5, Harry Brook offered a notable fightback with his 19-ball 25 before Kuldeep Yadav cleaned him up in the 11th over. Brook remained the top-scorer for England.
Jofra Archer and Liam Livingstone (11) put on 14 runs for the eighth-wicket partnership which lasted with the latter getting run out in the 15th over.
However, Archer’s retaliation came to an end in the 17th over when Jasprit Bumrah trapped him lbw. He remained a notable contributor for England with 21 off 15 balls.
Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav bagged three wickets each for India while Bumrah picked two.
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Put into bat first, India registered 171/7 on the board, courtesy of a solid partnership between Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav.
India had a shaky start to their innings as Virat Kohli, once again, failed to score in double digits. He was cleaned up by Reece Topley in the third over with just 19 runs on the board.
The former champions then suffered another blow to their batting expedition as wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant fell victim to Sam Curran after scoring four.
Former top-ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav then joined skipper Rohit Sharma in the middle when India were 40/2 in 5.2 overs.
The pair batted sensibly and put India in a comfortable position with a brilliant third-wicket partnership.
Yadav and Sharma took calculated risks and added 73 runs amid their stand until top-ranked T20I bowler Adil Rashid provided England a much-needed breakthrough by dismissing India’s skipper in the 14th over.
Rohit Sharma remained the top-scorer for India with a 39-ball 57 which featured six fours and two sixes.
Suryakumar Yadav soon followed in Sharma’s footsteps as he departed in the 16th over, courtesy of Jofra Archer’s back-of-the-hand slower delivery.
He made 47 in 36 balls with the help of four fours and two sixes.
Hardik Pandya then put together a one-sided partnership with Ravindra Jadeja which yielded 22 runs in 12 deliveries.
Pandya scored a brisk 23 off 13 deliveries, laced up with one four and two sixes before falling victim to Chris Jordan in the 18th over.
Jordan struck again on the next delivery to send Shivam Dube packing for a golden duck as India slipped to 146/6 in 17.5 overs.
Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja then combined for a quick 24-run partnership which ended with the former’s dismissal on the penultimate delivery of the innings.
Patel scored 10 off six balls while Jadeja remained not out with a nine-ball 17.
Chris Jordan led the bowling attack for England with three wickets but was expensive while Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Jofra Archer and Sam Curran chipped in with a wicket apiece.
It is pertinent to mention here that the winner of the second semi-final between India and England will face South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2024 final, scheduled at Kensington Oval, Barbados on June 29.
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