NEW DELHI: India secured a dominant 68-run victory against England in the semi-final of the
T20 World Cup
, booking their place in the final against South Africa. The match, held in Guyana, saw a challenging pitch play a crucial role in the outcome.
Axar Patel
, awarded the Player of the Match, spearheaded India's bowling attack with a remarkable spell of 3 wickets for 23 runs in his allotted four overs.
His economical bowling, at a rate of 5.80 runs per over, effectively stifled England's chase.
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During the post-match presentation, Patel revealed that the Indian team, led by
Rohit Sharma
, had identified the challenging nature of the pitch early on.
"I think we could have easily defended at 170. It was a very good score. The way the wicket was behaving, when we spoke to Rohit [Sharma], he said it was very difficult to hit a big shot because the odd ball is spinning and the odd ball is also staying down, skidding on. So that was our thought that 150-160 is a very good score, we can defend it. So, when we made 170, we knew that we made 10-15 runs more and the plan was the same," Axar said, as quoted by ANI.
India's innings saw valuable contributions from Rohit Sharma (57 runs off 39 balls) and
Suryakumar Yadav
(47 runs off 36 balls), propelling them to a competitive total of 171/7.
Hardik Pandya
and
Ravindra Jadeja
provided late-inning impetus, ensuring India set a challenging target.
England, despite winning the toss and opting to bowl, struggled to adapt to the pitch conditions. Their batting lineup faltered against India's disciplined bowling, with only
Harry Brook
(25 runs off 19 balls) and
Jos Buttler
(23 runs off 15 balls) offering resistance.
Patel emphasized the importance of simplicity in his bowling approach, stating that he focused on exploiting the pitch's assistance to trouble the English batsmen. He aimed to force errors by maintaining a disciplined line and length, a strategy that proved highly effective.
"Obviously, it is difficult in the powerplay, but when you know that you are getting help from the wicket, then at that time, without thinking much, without doing any extra work, I thought that the more I keep it simple, the easier it will be for me. Because, when we talked in the dressing room that it's not an easy wicket... My plan was to make it difficult for him (batsman) and force him to think of playing some new shot. So, that's what happened on the first ball. That was our plan," he added.
India's victory sets up a highly anticipated final against South Africa, another unbeaten team in the tournament. The clash, scheduled for Saturday in Barbados, promises a thrilling contest between two strong cricketing nations vying for the coveted T20 World Cup trophy.
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