NEW DELHI: A commanding India destroyed England’s title defence with a 68-run thrashing in Thursday’s T20 World Cup second semi-final, securing their spot in the championship match against South Africa.
As India batted in the rain-affected game, they amassed a commanding 171–7, with captain Rohit Sharma (57) and captain Suryakumar Yadav (47) accounting for the majority of the runs on the sluggish Providence Stadium in Guyana.
The 2007 winners then made a comeback, dismissing England for 103 in 17 overs thanks to the devastating turning ball exploits of spin pair Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
India scored 46 runs in the six power-play overs, but Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant were removed from the game as a result.
After a few erratic shots to start, Rohit gained confidence and eventually saw India up to 65-2 in eight overs before rain forced the game to end.
After over an hour, when play finally started again, Rohit made it to his 36-ball. To briefly tie the score, Adil Rashid bowled Rohit and Jofra Archer stopped Suryakumar from scoring fifty.
Even after Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube were removed by Jordan (3-37) in consecutive deliveries, India was still able to score a respectable total.
England started off quickly but was reeling at 49-5 due to a collapse in the top order caused by Axar (3-23).
With his opening delivery, the left-arm spinner removed Buttler (23), and in his subsequent over, he removed Jonny Bairstow.
Player of the game Axar came back to dismiss Prior to fellow spinner Kuldeep (3-19) twisting the knife on a slow pitch where the ball kept low sometimes, Moeen Ali stumped.
To put India well in control, the left-arm wrist spinner clean bowled Harry Brook (25) and trapped both Sam Curran and Jordan.
