Georgetown: India flaunted their superabundance of talent in a display of absolute dominance to storm into the final of the T20 World Cup with a 68-run shellacking of England in their semi-final here on Thursday.
In reply, England were bowled out for 103 in 16.4 overs as India set up a title clash with first-timers South Africa in Barbados on Saturday. This is India’s third entry into the final of the tournament.
Hardik Pandya chipped in with a 13-ball 23, striking two sixes at a crucial juncture to prop up India.
The Indian team thus exacted revenge for the crushing 10-wicket loss it endured against the defending champions in the 2022 semifinal of the mega-event at the Adelaide Oval.
In the process, Rohit became the first Indian captain to lead the country in three ICC global finals in a space of 12 months — 2023 World Test Championship, 2023 ODI World Cup and now the T20 World Cup.
His decision to use Axar in the powerplay proved to be a masterstroke as the left-arm spinner struck twice in quick succession, from which England could not recover.
Wrist spinner Kuldeep also played his part to perfection on a pitch that suited the spinners all through the competition.
Jos Buttler (23 off 15) and Harry Brook (25 off 19) were the only England batters to reach double figures, summing up India’s dominance in the game. Both batters fell while attempting the reverse sweep against Axar and Kuldeep respectively.
India, who are yet to lose a game in the tournament, will be hoping that their star batter Virat Kohli finds run in the all-important title clash. Kohli (9 off 9) perished early once again on Thursday, trying to force the pace.
The keenly awaited fixture was impacted by intermittent rain with the start of play being delayed by one hour and 15 minutes.
As many as 250 additional minutes were allotted to the game but there was no reserve day.
Soon after Kohli and Rohit came out to bat after England put the opposition in, it became clear the surface was on the slower side and low bounce made the task trickier for the batters.
Setting the benchmark for other batters, Rohit then collected back-to-back fours in Topley’s third over before applying pressure on England’s premier spinner Adil Rashid after India reached 46 for two in the powerplay.
Then came the engrossing match-up between Rohit and Rashid where the Indian captain employed the reverse and conventional sweep to collect two fours from the leg-spinner’s opening over.
Suryakumar was batting on 13 alongside Rohit when rain returned at the Providence Stadium, forcing the game to be paused for more than an hour.
England used the leg-spin of Rashid and Liam Livingstone from both ends after the forced break but they could not stifle Rohit and Suryakumar.
A full toss from Rashid was duly dispatched over short fine leg for four, the first of many boundaries that India accumulated in the middle overs.
The 13th over from Curran yielded 19 runs for India with Suryakumar smashing a couple of sixes and Rohit played a pick-up shot for a maximum that also brought up his second successive fifty.
Following Curran’s bumper 13th over, the next fours were quiet for India before Hardik Pandya (23 off 13) hit two flat sixes on either side of the pitch to push the innings forward.
Ravindra Jadeja (17 not out off 9), sent ahead of Shivam Dube, got two crucial fours off Archer in the penultimate over while the latter’s stay lasted only one ball.
