India will meet England in a T20 World Cup clash after a long wait of 10 years. The conditions will be a lot different from the last time as they are expected to favour the pacers. Before it is decided whether India repeat the 2011 World Cup script and advance to the final or not, here’s a look at the story of the decade-old clash.
In T20 World Cup 2012, Stuart Broad was leading the England side. Broad won the toss and opted to field first in Colombo. The ploy of opening the innings with Irfan Pathan in the absence of Virender Sehwag didn’t work. Pathan scored a run-a-ball eight runs and got bowled by pacer Steven Finn.
The second-wicket partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli laid the foundation for a big total. They shared a 55-run partnership in which Kohli did the bulk of scoring. He scored 40 runs from 32 deliveries including six boundaries before getting dismissed by off-spinner Graeme Swann.
Gambhir continued to anchor the innings whereas Rohit Sharma took up the mantle to score runs quickly in the middle overs. Just before the slog overs, Gambhir missed a chance to complete his half-century. Gambhir got dismissed by Finn. The southpaw scored 45 runs from 38 deliveries including five boundaries.
In the slog overs, Rohit attacked whereas MS Dhoni gave him strike. Dhoni got dismissed in the last over for a single-digit score to Jade Dernbach whereas Rohit went on to score 55 runs from 33 deliveries including five boundaries and one six to help India post 170/4.
England's run chase could never get on track. Alex Hales, who is also part of the current team, departed for a two-ball duck. Pathan followed it up with wicket of Luke Wright (6) in the next over. England did not get the desired result in the powerplay overs and Eoin Morgan (2) getting dismissed by Harbhajan Singh in the sixth over did not help their cause either.
Jonny Bairstow played too many dot deliveries and then got bowled by leg-spinner Piyush Chawla. With wickets falling at the other end, opener Craig Kieswetter could not carry the run chase on his back. Kieswetter became Chawla's second victim. He scored 35 runs from 25 deliveries including four fours and two sixes.
The wickets kept tumbling in the middle overs and England got bundled out for 80 in the 15th over. Only Jos Buttler and Dernbach managed to score in double digits. Harbhajan was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets from his quota of four overs while conceding 12 runs including two maiden overs. Dhoni-led registered a commanding 90-run win over England.