Bhubaneswar: India booked a date with South Africa for Saturday’s T20 World Cup final at Kensington Oval by handing defending champions England a 68-run thrashing on Thursday.
Put to bat in the rain-hit match, India posted a strong 171-7 with skipper Rohit Sharma (57) and Suryakumar Yadav (47) scoring bulk of the runs. They racked up 73 runs between them after the early losses of Virat Kohli – bowled by Reece Topley for 9 – and Rishabh Pant – caught by Jonny Bairstow off the bowling of Sam Curran for 4.
Though openers Buttler and Phil Salt gave England a solid start, Indian spinners ran riot on the sluggish Guyana pitch, bowling them out for a mere 103, in a near-perfect revenge as India exorcised the ghosts of 2022 World Cup semifinal at Adelaide, Australia, when the side was hammered by 10 wickets.
Axar Patel (3/23 in 4 overs) and Kuldeep Yadav (3/19 in 4 overs) shared the spoils with the ball.
Axar was the game-changer. He took out the biggest threat, Buttler, with his very first ball after the latter whacked Arshdeep Singh for three fours in an over. Buttler sent a catch looping behind off the glove when attempting a reverse sweep at 26. The left-armer then sent Jonny Bairstow back to the pavilion for a duck. Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant’s fast stumping of Moeen Ali off Axar Patel’s bowling dealt a big blow to England’s chase. Yadav followed this up with three of his own. England’s last recognised batter, Liam Livingstone, was run-out after a mix-up with the lower order.
“If bowlers and batters adapt, things fall in place,” a beaming Sharma said. “Axar and Kuldeep are gun spinners. (It was) tough to play shots against them in these conditions (and) they were calm under pressure.”
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