India outclass England to qualify for T20 World Cup final

The final of the mega event will be played on June 29 in Barbados

By Web Desk
June 28, 2024
Rohit Sharma (R) plays a shot against England. — AFP

India defeated England by 68 runs in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 which was played at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Thursday.

India qualified for the final of the T20 World Cup where they will play South Africa on Saturday, June 29 in Barbados.

Chasing the 172-run target, England had a good start as in the first three overs, they had scored 26 runs without losing a single wicket. Jos Buttler looked in good touch but he was dismissed by Axar Patel on the first ball of the fourth over.

England never recovered after losing their skipper as Jasprit Bumrah increased their troubles by removing Phil Salt’s stumps.

India’s spin department continued to dominate the defending champions as Jonny Bairstow (0 off 3), Moeen Ali (8 off 10), Sam Curran (2 off 4) and Liam Livingstone (11 of 16), all failed to score big for the team.

Harry Brook provided some resistance by contributing 25 runs on 19 balls but he was removed by Kuldeep Yadav. Jofra Archer was the third top-scorer for England with 21 runs on 14 balls.

For India, Patel and Kuldeep bagged three wickets each while Bumrah got two as the entire English team was out for 103 runs in 16.4 overs.

In the first innings, India didn’t have a great start as Virat Kohli, once again, failed to perform in the ongoing tournament as he was bowled by Reece Topley after just scoring nine runs.

Following Kohli’s dismissal, Rishabh Pant too walked back to the pavilion after scoring just four runs, leaving India 40-2 in 5.2 overs.

However, after losing two wickets, India bounced back as Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma formed a 73-run partnership. The Hitman completed his half-century but fell to Adil Rashid’s googly after contributing 57 runs.

Yadav continued India’s attack after Sharma’s dismissal but he missed his half-century by just three runs by losing his wicket to Jofra Archer.

India lost wickets in quick succession with Hardik Pandya (23 off 13), and Shivam Dube (0 off 1), but Ravindra Jadeja (17 off 9) and Axar Patel (10 off 6) propelled India to 171 in the allocated overs.

For England, Chris Jordan picked three, while Adil Rashid, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer and Reece Topley bagged one wicket each.

Playing XIs

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

England: 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Phil Salt, 3 Jonny Bairstow, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley.

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