T20 World Cup: England up against new attacking India as sides meet again in semi-finals

There will be revenge or repeat as England take on India in the T20 World Cup semi-finals.

Thursday’s clash in Guyana is a rematch from a last-four meeting in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia – a game England won by 10 wickets in Adelaide against an awfully timid opponent.

India meandered along to 168-6 after being inserted, with Hardik Pandya’s 63 from 33 balls before treading on his stumps the only knock of real verve.

Virat Kohli passed 4,000 T20I career runs but was largely sedate in an innings of 50 from 40 deliveries. Skipper Rohit Sharma went at under a run a ball in his 27 off 28.

Any thoughts that Rohit’s men had a competitive total soon eroded as Jos Buttler (80no off 49) and Alex Hales (86no off 47) pounded England to 63-0 in the powerplay and to their target of 169 with a full four overs to spare – Buttler’s six off Mohammed Shami clinching a dominant victory.

India ‘stirred’ by past semi-final failure to England

England were through to a final they would go on to win – beating Pakistan thanks to a crucial innings from Ben Stokes – and India were left to accept that their wait for a first World Cup title since triumphing in the 50-over version on home soil in 2011 would extend.

The defeat to England, and more pertinently the tentative nature of it, seems to have stirred India, with captain Rohit leading the charge.

There was nothing in the way of timidity in their final Super 8s contest against Australia in this year’s T20 World Cup, with Rohit clubbing 92 from 41 balls at the top of the order.

He nailed eight sixes and seven fours before he was bowled by Mitchell Starc in the 12th over, the player he had thumped for five boundaries in a 29-run third over.

Speaking at the halfway stage, after India had posted 205-5, Suryakumar Yadav said: “[Rohit’s innings] was like a dream. He batted beautifully. We spoke before about what brand we wanted to play and he showed us the way.”

Suryakumar also followed the mantra, hitting 31 off 16 balls.

Rohit’s ‘brutal elegance’ epitomises new approach

Sky Sports Cricket’s Nasser Hussain said: “I think the change in mentality happened after that 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final. That was noticeable in last year’s 50-over World Cup and has definitely been noticeable in this World Cup, once they moved away from New York.

“They couldn’t quite [be as aggressive as they wanted] in New York due to the poor pitches but as their batters – some of them, not all of them – have got confidence, they have gone back to that mentality and that has been completely led by Rohit.

“If you are going to talk the talk as captain – and he did before the Australia game when he said he was not worried about fifties and hundreds but about balls faced and strike-rate – [you need to walk the walk] and his innings was one of the great white-ball innings I have seen.

“Absolute brutal elegance at its best. Taking down Starc, slog-sweeping Pat Cummins, going inside out over extra-cover.

“Then after him you have Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar, Hardik playing the same attacking way. The question for them, is can they do it in a knockout game?

“Even if they had lost against Australia, they would probably have gone through, so there was no jeopardy. The key for them is to go and do it in a knockout game.”

Questions over Kohli form ahead of semi-final

England will hope to latch onto any signs of Indian scar tissue from that demolition job in Adelaide two years ago, while Kohli’s form could also be a positive for Buttler’s side with the 35-year-old scoring only 66 runs in six knocks in this tournament, averaging 11 with two ducks.

That has not prevented India from winning all six of their completed matches (their other game against Canada was wiped out due to rain) but it is one of the few blots in what has been a highly impressive competition for the 2007 champions.

Bowling-wise, left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh has 15 wickets – only Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi, with 16, has more – while right-arm pacer Jasprit Bumrah has 11 from 23 overs at a quite frankly ridiculous average of 4.08.

There is probably no better bowler in the game at the moment.

Hussain was quick, however, to say that England will not fear India, with the 2022 semi-final in their minds and a marked improvement in performances as the 2024 edition has gone on.

Are England peaking at right time in title defence?

After fielding, bowling and arguably selection errors in early games – Reece Topley’s omission from the rain-off against Scotland and defeat to Australia raised eyebrows – the defending champions have since overpowered associate nations Oman, Namibia and USA as well as beaten host country and two-time winners West Indies. A narrow loss to South Africa is the only recent blip.

Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer, with nine wickets each, have bowled beautifully and economically, conceding only six runs combined across the 16th and 17th overs against West Indies, while Buttler, Salt, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone have all fired at points with the bat.

Buttler did so in devastating fashion against USA on Sunday to secure England’s semi-final spot, crunching 83 not out from 38 balls including five sixes in an over to power his men to their target of 116 in 19.4 overs, after Chris Jordan’s hat-trick and four wickets in five balls had rolled USA for 115.

Jordan had replaced fellow pacer Mark Wood for England in that game and will probably keep his place against India. He may not have Wood’s express speed but his death bowling, lower-order hitting and exceptional fielding boosts his side in plenty of other ways.

England are two wins away from becoming the first side to successfully defend the Men’s T20 World Cup and may be peaking at the right time – even if the fact remains that they have only beaten one Test-playing nation (West Indies) in this tournament and lost to the other two they have come up against (Australia, South Africa).

India will be confident of revenge from 2022 but England will feel they are in decent shape to dish out a repeat – as long as the rain does not pour, lead to an abandonment and see Rohit’s men through to the final by dint of finishing in a higher spot in the Super 8s.

Hopefully we will be talking about high-quality cricket once all is said and done in Guyana and not the lack of a scheduled reserve day. If it is to be revenge for India, it should be done right.

Watch England play India in T20 World Cup semi-final, in Guyana, from 3pm live on Sky Sports Cricket, with the first ball at 3.30pm.

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