After defeating England by 68 runs in the second semifinal at Providence Stadium, India advanced to the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup final behind captain Rohit Sharma’s 39-ball fifty-score. Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel each claimed three wickets.
Rohit skillfully combined risk-taking and caution to smash six fours and two sixes in his crucial knock on a challenging pitch with a slow pace and low bounce. He also shared a 73-run stand with Suryakumar Yadav, who smashed 47 off 36 balls.
After being put into bat first, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel scored clutch runs at the tail end to help India post a competitive 171/7. In response, England collapsed to 103 all thanks to bowling spells of brilliance from Axar and Kuldeep.
India will now play South Africa in the championship match at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday following their decisive victory. In addition, a team that has never lost will be the champion of the Men’s T20 World Cup for the first time ever.
Following a 75-minute break due to rain, Rohit started with two erratic boundaries, and Virat Kohli looked good when he flicked a six off Reece Topley. However, Kohli saw his bails rattled as he attempted to heave Topley across the line, failing to account for the length ball that was shaping back in.
Even though his shots were not timed perfectly, Rohit was still able to pull off a four from Topley and then stay leg-side to drive the pacer for another boundary in a stylish manner. However, Rishabh Pant was dismissed by England when he hit a straight flick to mid-wicket off Sam Curran. The Power-play ended with India at 46/2 after Suryakumar opened his account with a straight drive past Curran for four.
In response to Rashid, Rohit produced two boundaries with a reverse sweep and a conventional sweep. Then, Suryakumar went down on one knee to hit a slower ball from Jordan over long-leg for six. The rain started to pour heavily right before the ninth over started, forcing everyone to leave the pitch for 75 minutes.
Following the restart, Suryakumar swept Rashid for four before Rohit hit Livingstone with a huge six over long-on. 19 runs came off the 13th over as Rohit reached his fifty in 36 balls by sweeping Curran for six. Meanwhile, Suryakumar lofted inside-out and pulled to take two boundaries off him.
After that, England recovered as Rashid’s googly remained low and overcame Rohit’s heave to castle him for fifty-seven runs. In the sixteenth over, Archer made a good comeback when Suryakumar skied a slower ball off his hand and onto long-on. After cutting Archer for four, Pandya hit Jordan for two consecutive sixes.
However, Pandya’s slower delivery to long-off and Shivam Dube’s golden duck to make a double strike in the eighteenth over gave the pacer the last laugh. After Patel took Jordan for six after Jadeja hit two boundaries off Archer, India reached the 170-run threshold.
Jos Buttler gave England a great start in their chase of 172 by hitting four boundaries, three of which came off Arshdeep, with 26 runs coming from the first three overs. However, Axar teamed up with Jasprit Bumrah to leave England in ruins. Buttler attempted a reverse sweep on Axar’s opening ball, but he gave keeper Rishabh Pant a top edge.
England finished the Power-play at 39/3 after Bumrah disrupted Phil Salt’s leg-stump with his off-cutter. Axar then managed to stay low and hit Jonny Bairstow’s off-stump, dismissing him for a duck.
Moeen Ali attempted to flick off Axar, but the ball bounced off his thigh pad, making matters worse for England. Pant quickly collected the ball and stumped Ali as he was walking out of the crease.
By trapping Sam Curran plumb lbw in front of the middle stump, ratting a reverse-sweeping Harry Brook’s leg-stump, and getting one to spin back in to trap Chris Jordan lbw, Kuldeep put England even more on the back foot.
Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid were run outs due to confusion, and when Bumrah caught Jofra Archer leg before wicket, it set off joyous celebrations as the memory of Adelaide 2022 was finally laid to rest in Guyana 2024. The aspiration to win the coveted trophy is still on track for a dominant India.
Quick scores:
England scored 103 in 16.4 overs (Harry Brook 25; Kuldeep Yadav 3-19, Axar Patel 3-23) losing to India 171/7 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 57, Suryakumar Yadav 47; Chris Jordan 3-37, Adil Rashid 1-25) by 68 runs.
