Guyana: Rohit Sharma’s fifty and cameos firework by Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja’s late flourish powered India to 171/7 against defending champions England in the second semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 on Thursday at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
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- India faced a challenging start as Reece Topley made an early breakthrough by dismissing the out-of-form Virat Kohli for just 9 runs, hitting the bail off the leg stump. Despite this setback, India’s captain Rohit Sharma maintained an aggressive stance, hitting Topley for two boundaries and scoring 11 runs in the fifth over. By the end of the fifth over, India had reached a score of 40/1.
- However, England’s Sam Curran brought his team back into the game by taking the wicket of Rishabh Pant, who was caught by Jonny Bairstow at short mid-wicket after playing a poor shot, leaving India at 65/2 after eight overs when rain stopped play for over an hour.
- After the rain delay, Rohit Sharma continued to anchor the innings, achieving back-to-back half-centuries with a magnificent six. He, along with Suryakumar Yadav, stitched together a crucial 50-run partnership to keep the momentum going for India. The duo aggressively targeted Sam Curran in the 13th over, accumulating 19 runs. However, England’s Adil Rashid managed to break this significant 73-run stand by dismissing Rohit for a well-made 57.
- Despite the loss, India’s batting order managed to keep the scoreboard ticking, with Hardik Pandya contributing with a quick 23 runs before being dismissed by Chris Jordan, who also took the wicket of Shivam Dube for a duck on the very next ball.
- In the final overs, a superb effort from Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja in the final two overs helped India post a competitive total while Suryakumar (47) and Hardik (23 off 13) played crucial cameos. For England, Chris Jordan starred with the ball as he returned with a figure of 3-37, bagging the wickets of Hardik, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel.
- England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and elected to bowl first against India, in the second semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 on Thursday at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
- Indian captain Rohit Sharma at the toss said, “We would have batted first, the weather looks good, whatever had to happen, it has already happened. We wanted to put runs on the board. The pitch tends to get slower as the game goes on. We understand the challenge of playing a tournament like this, a lot of travel and logistics. It’s a chance to play some good cricket. We don’t want to think too far ahead, stay in the moment and let your game do the talking. Same team for us.”
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England skipper after winning the toss said, “We’ll bowl first. Looks like a good surface, the bounce will be low, with the rain around, we thought it’ll be a bit of an advantage to bowl first. We’re up against a great team, but we’re peaking nicely and we are playing the same team today. Looking forward to a great challenge against a top side. Excited to be in a semi-final, but some of us have been here before.”
- India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah
- England (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w/c), Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
- In the T20 World Cup, India and England have clashed four times, each team securing two victories. With the match scheduled for tonight, the stage is set for one team to gain an edge and make it to the finals against South Africa.
- The semi-final between India and England, does not have a reserve day due to the tight scheduling. Instead, 250 minutes of extra time have been allocated on the match day itself to ensure a result.
- If the match is washed out and a Super Over isn’t possible, the team that finished top of their Super 8 group will advance to face South Africa in the final.
- India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal
- England Squad: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w/c), Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Mark Wood, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Tom Hartley
