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India thumps England by 68 runs, will face South Africa in T20 World Cup final
June 28, 2024
Article Body TextPROVIDENCE, Guyana — <p>India thumped defending champion England by 68 runs to reach the final of the Twenty20 World Cup on Thursday.</p> <p>India will face South Africa on Saturday at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados in a battle of the two unbeaten teams of the tournament.</p> <p>Captain Rohit Sharma's (57) second half-century helped India compile 171-7 and Suryakumar Yadav also blunted the England pace and spin with a vital knock of 47 off 36 balls after more than 2-1/2 hours of second semifinal was lost due to rain and wet outfield.</p> <p>Spinners Axar Patel and the Kuldeep Yadav then combined in for 6-42 through some sharp turners as England got bowled out for 103 in 16.3 overs on a skiddy, low pitch devoid of grass to bow out of the tournament.</p> <p>"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."</p> <p>Captain Jos Buttler smashed four boundaries in his 23 off 15 balls, but once he top-edged reverse sweep off left-arm spinner Patel's first ball inside the power play and lobbed a simplest of catches to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, England kept on losing wickets with regular intervals.</p> <p>"I've bowled in the powerplay in the past many times," Patel said after being adjudged player of the semifinal. "Knew the wicket was assisting and didn't try too many things."</p> <p>England had collapsed to 88-9 when Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid both got run out but Jofra Archer hit 21 off 15 balls before Jasprit Bumrah (2-12) finished off England by having Archer leg before wicket.</p> <p>The win was sweet revenge for India, which got hammered by England by 10 wickets in the 2022 World Cup semifinal at Adelaide, Australia.</p> <p>"India outplayed us," Buttler said. "We let them get 20-25 runs too many on a challenging surface … they had an above-par total and it was always a tough chase."</p> <p>Earlier, Sharma and Yadav combined in a 73-run third wicket stand on a wicket where batters struggled to negotiate the variable bounce of pace and spin.</p> <p>Virat Kohli's below-par tournament continued after a wet outfield delayed the toss for 80 minutes and Buttler won the toss and elected to field.</p> <p>Kohli took his run tally to disappointing 75 runs in seven games with run-a-ball knock of nine before Reece Topley cramped him for a big shot and hit the top of leg stump.</p> <p>"We understand his (Kohli's) class," Sharma said in defense of his ace batter. "Form is never a problem when you've played for 15 years, probably saving for the final."</p> <p>Sharma continued his sublime form in the tournament on difficult pitches and countercharged on a yet another tough wicket for batters before heavy rain took the players off the field for another 73 minutes when India had reached 65-2 after eight overs.</p> <p>Sharma reached his 50 after resumption of play with a swept six over fine leg off Sam Curran, and Yadav hammered the left-arm fast bowler to point for a six before both exited in successive overs.</p> <p>Sharma was undone by a googly from Adil Rashid (1-25) in his last over and was clean bowled, while Yadav was deceived by Archer's slower ball and ballooned a catch to long off.</p> <p>Chris Jordan picked up 3-37 that included the wickets of Hardik Pandya (23) and Shivam Dube off successive balls, but India had piled up enough runs for its spinners to defend.</p>
Content TypeText
LanguageEnglish
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
Subtitles / Dubbing AvailableNo
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateJune 27, 2024 23:52 EDT
BylineAssociated Press
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
