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Follow UsBelieve it or not but since Sri Lanka’s 27-run win over West Indies in the first semi-final of the 2014 T20 World Cup (the last time India reached the final in a T20 World Cup), no side batting first had won a knockout game in the history of the tournament. There had been 12 consecutive instances of the chasing side clinching the semi-final or the final across five editions.
The Men in Blue changed that on Thursday (June 27), brushing England aside in the second semi-final by a convincing margin of 68 runs, also breaking the startling streak on the 13th attempt.
Asked to bat first, India mounted an above-par total at the Providence Stadium in Guyana, scoring 171/7. England started well but soon realized their worst nightmare turning into reality — a surrender job against the Indian spinners.
When Jos Buttler mustered three boundaries in Arshdeep Singh’s second over, England believed they could scale the target despite India scoring a few runs extra.
Rohit Sharma responded by bringing Axar Patel in the next over and Buttler opened the door for India as soon as spin arrived. In a major turning point in the clash, the England captain attempted a reverse sweep to greet Axar on his first delivery. It was a shot highly based on chance and on this occasion, it didn’t come off. Buttler toe-edged it straight up for Rishabh Pant behind the stumps, heading back for 23 off 15 balls.
Facing a peculiar left-arm spinner like Axar on a slow surface with the new ball, the nucleus of England’s batting chose the risky option too soon. The plan probably was to disrupt the Indian spinners early, but Buttler put too much at stake too early given the significance of his wicket.
In the next over, Phil Salt opted for a slog across the line to tackle Jasprit Bumrah’s guile. Unlike Buttler, it wasn’t a case of going too early, but Salt chose the wrong bowler.
Before this semi-final, the England openers had scored 47.3% of their team runs, the second highest for any team. Here, both Salt and Buttler departed within the first five overs.
Jonny Bairstow re-lived his red-ball ghosts against Axar Patel in white-ball cricket and was cleaned up trying to open up the off side.
Three wickets in 13 balls for nine runs. The margin by which Bairstow missed Axar’s good length ball was a testament to how England had failed at execution in their attempt to be dominant up front. The Three Lions were already on their knees, and India didn’t take their foot off the paddle either.
Rohit bowled nine consecutive overs of spin in the middle overs. The trio of Axar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja pouched four more wickets between them as England further slipped from 39/3 to 86/8. Kuldeep snapped 3/19 in his four overs with Axar ending with 3/23 and the Player of the Match award. Jadeja bowled three economical overs for 16 runs.
Earlier, India were proactive with the bat throughout the first innings. Rohit hinted this at the toss itself. While Buttler opted to bowl owing to the weather, the Indian skipper said he wanted to bat and put runs on the board on a pitch he was expecting to get slower.
Walking the talk, Rohit forged a vital stand with Suryakumar Yadav that set the tone of the innings. They added 73 runs off 50 balls for the third wicket, respecting the conditions but also staying a step ahead with tempo. They didn’t shift a gear down against Adil Rashid and took on England’s inefficient bowling.
Later, Axar, Jadeja, and Hardik Pandya added 50 runs between them in 28 balls to build on the work done by the Mumbai pair.
On the board, India scored only three runs more than they did in their 10-wicket thrashing in Adelaide two years ago. But 171 on a typically slow Guyana track was worth 200-plus on an Adelaide deck under lights. And overaggressive England simply crumbled against an assertive India with the ball.
From a 10-wicket defeat to bundling out England in 100 balls. Active cricketers don’t speak about revenge much but this felt like it.
When Sri Lanka last won a T20 World Cup knockout game batting first, they went on to win the trophy. They got both their hands on it after flunking quite a few close chances in recent events. The trophy also translated into poetic justice for two of their all-time greats, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.
These narratives sit quite well on this current Indian team.
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