India thrashed England by 68 runs in the semifinal to breeze into T20 World Cup 2024 final on June 28. India not only won the match but also avenged the T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal defeat against England. It was Rohit Sharma who rose to the occasion for India yet again and helped them post a challenging total of 171/7. Rohit Sharma scored an impressive 57 off 39 which was well supported by Suryakumar Yadav, who contributed with a well-made 47 off 36. In reply, England looked in disarray right from the onset. It was the spin magic of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav which broke the defending champions' back and bundled them out for mere 103. Axar and Kuldeep feasted on England batters and shone with three wickets each.
On the other hand, England captain Jos Buttler completely missed on the spin trick and forget to employ his another spin maestro Moeen Ali into the attack which cost them dearly.
Jos Buttler rues England's semifinal loss
After the match, Buttler rued England's loss against India and admitted that he should have bowled Moeen the way the Providence stadium's pitch surface was helping the spinners.
“India outplayed us. We let them get 20-25 runs too many on a challenging surface. Two years on, different conditions, credit to India. Deserve the win. (Toss-decision rationale) With the rain, didn't think it'd change much. Don't think it did, they bowled better. They've got fantastic bowlers. In hindsight, should've bowled Moeen the way the spin was playing. They had an above-par total and it was always a tough chase. Proud of everyone's effort in the comp. We've had a lot of adversity, played really good in patches,” Buttler said in the post-match presentation.
Team India will now face South Africa which is scheduled to be played at Kensington Oval in Barbados on June 29.
Axar Patel was adjudged Player of the Match for his brilliant spell of 3/23.
“I have bowled in the powerplay in the past, so I had to bowl in the powerplay, that was the plan. The wicket was stopping and keeping low, so tried to bowl in the right areas. The wicket was slow, so I tried to bowl slower in this match, it worked for me. Wouldn't have worked had I bowled quicker, would have been easier for their batters. Our batters told us that the wicket wasn't easy, so 160 was a good total according to us. That partnership (between Rohit and SKY) was magnificent, they scored the occasional boundaries and rotated the strike. Not thinking about Barbados at the moment, will celebrate this player of the match award first” said Axar in Post match conference.
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