PROVIDENCE, Guyana, CMC – World No. 1 India will face South Africa in the final of the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday at Kensington Oval in Barbados.
A half-century from the Indian captain Rohit Sharma and stifling bowling from their triumvirate of left-arm spinners enabled them to deliver a 68-run humbling of defending champions England in the second semi-final on Thursday in Guyana.
“It’s very satisfying to win this game,” Rohit said during the post-play TV interview. “We worked hard as a unit. To win like that was a great effort from everybody.”
Rohit hit the top score of 57 from 39 balls, and Suryakumar Yadav (“Sky”) supported with 47 from 36 balls. India reached 171 for seven from their allocation of 20 overs after they were strangely put into bat on a slow Guyana National Stadium pitch following a 1-1/4 hour delay to the start because of rain.
The Indians then returned to dismantle England for 103 in 17 overs with unorthodox left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav and the orthodox pair of Axar Patel and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja delivering the knockout punches.
Kuldeep ended with three for 19 from his allotted four overs, but Axar was the trigger for the English batting collapse with a Player-of-the-Match spell of three for 23 from his four overs, and Jadeja tightened the grip with three wicket-less overs that cost only 16.
“India outplayed us,” England captain Jos Buttler said. “We let them maybe get 20-25 too many on a challenging surface they played well on. They fully deserved to win.”
The result meant that the final would feature the two sides that had played unbeaten throughout the tournament after the South Africans similarly moved Afghanistan in the first semi-final the previous night in Trinidad.
A wet outfield caused by overnight and early morning rain delayed the start of the match, and England made the surprising choice to field after winning the toss.
India finished the Power Play on 46 for two after the wretched form of Virat Kohli in the tournament continued when lanky left-arm pacer Reece Topley bowled him for nine in the third over, and Rishabh Pant was caught at square leg off left-arm pacer Sam Curran for four in the sixth over.
Rohit and Sky were getting into the swing of things when rain stopped play for over an hour, with India 65 for two off eight overs.
When play resumed, Rohit reached his 50 from 36 balls when he got down on one knee and swept Curran for a six over deep fine leg that also brought up the India 100 in the 13th over.
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid bowled Rohit’s next over, and Barbados-born pace spearhead Jofra Archer got Sky caught at long-on two overs later to set India back on 124 for four.
Not out on 17, Jadeja defied a disruptive spell of three for 37 in three overs from Barbados-born pacer Christopher Jordan to anchor a couple of small partnerships in the closing overs to beef up the Indian total.
England started briskly, but they were 39 for three at the end of the Power Play after Axar got Buttler caught behind for 23 in the fourth over and bowled Jonny Bairstow for a duck in the sixth over, and irrepressible fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah bowled Phil Salt for five in between.
“I think we could have easily defended 170,” Axar told reporters during a post-play news conference. “It was an outstanding total. The way the [pitch] was behaving, when we spoke to Rohit, he said it was tough to hit a big shot because the odd ball is spinning and the odd ball is also staying down, skidding on.
“So that was our thought that 150-160 was an outstanding total, and we could defend it, so when we made 170, we knew that we made 10-15 runs more, and the plan was the same.”
The English sunk further to 62 for five at the halfway stage of the chase after Axar got Moeen Ali stumped for eight in the eighth over, and Kuldeep started his reign of terror when he trapped Sam Curran lbw for two in the next over.
There was token resistance from the rest of the batting, with Harry Brook finishing with the top score of 25 and Archer indulging himself towards the end to get 21 – but England lost their last five wickets for 35 in the span of 37 balls.
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