By India vs England Live Score, T20 World Cup 2024, Semi Final 2, IND vs ENG: Rohit Sharma against Jos Buttler for a place in the final
India vs England Live Score, T20 World Cup 2024, Semi Final, IND vs ENG: 10 November, 2022. It was the day when India’s aspirations of becoming T20 World Champions for a second time came to a screeching halt. One of the tournament favourites, having defeated Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, India were steamrolled by England in the semi-final by 10 wickets. The visual of an inconsolable Rohit Sharma sitting all by himself in the dugout flashed on the TV screen. One year removed from a first-round elimination at the 2021 T20WC, India were defined by two 10-wicket drubbings. Had nothing changed in the last year? With Rahul Dravid coming in? With Rohit Sharma taking over? For all the endless talk that emerged around India’s batting template, truth be told, it was still timid.…Read More
But what it did was light a fuse. India knew they had to do something different if they were to get past the semi-final hurdle. And so, Rohit took it upon himself to unleash a brand of cricket that is becoming of the modern-day T20 batting. He displayed that at the 2023 ODI World Cup, and India finished runner-up, and continued it here at the 2024 T20 World Cup to bring India two steps away from breaking their ICC title drought. Rohit is a man possessed, and he won’t stop unless India lays its hands on that coveted trophy. He came close eight months ago. And when the heartbreak happened on November 19, everyone thought he was done. But as fate would have it, Rohit had one last chapter to unfold, which hopefully culminates in India winning a World Cup.
The wounds of Adelaide 2022 have healed but certainly not forgotten. But this team is nothing like it. The top order may cut somewhat of a similar figure, but let that not fool you. This team is different, with players standing out with an aggressive, power-hitting mindset. Look at what Rohit did to the 2021 World Champions, bludgeoning the Aussies and destroying their chances of staying alive in the tournament with a whirlwind 92 off 41 balls – India’s second-highest individual score at the T20 World Cups. Or how Rishabh Pant has been batting at No. 3. Carefree but with a lot of jest and jazz.
And hey. There is the incomparable Jasprit Bumrah, who arguably is the best cricketer across the world right now. He wasn’t there in Australia two years back; neither was Ravindra Jadeja. And India paid the price. They went down to South Africa first and then to Jos Buttler’s men later, only to revive themselves and how? By winning 10 consecutive matches at last year’s World Cup and seven here to go into the semis as only the second unbeaten team after South Africa.
England, meanwhile, have gone through ups and downs in the tournament. Once on the verge of elimination, they have defied weather, Josh Hazlewood’s comment that came to haunt Australia and overcame a loss to the Aussies. They plundered Oman, Namibia, West Indies and the USA, and despite losing to the Proteas, here they are, one step away from making it to a second consecutive final. They say there is nothing to separate the two teams, except the fact that England have lost two games in this T20 World Cup. Even Rohit Sharma and Jos Buttler, with 191 runs, from six innings, are neck-and-neck. But this inkling that India are just a spring ahead cannot be ignored either.
The Men in Blue have been on a juggernaut. They brushed aside Ireland, Pakistan and the USA in the league stage, and added Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Australia in their list in the Super Eights. Their batting depth has given their top order the liberty to go after the bowling. Sure, Virat Kohli is yet to fire, but Rohit’s destructive knock the other day, Pant’s slam-bang batting, Suryakumar Yadav’s cameos and Hardik Pandya’s return to form gives them the advantage – albeit just by a tad bit – over England.
But hang on. That’s not all. This blockbuster has three protagonists. India. England. And rain. Guyana has witnessed heavy rainfall over the last four days and while it subsided on the eve of the match, paving the way for a hopefully clearer forecast on match day, the threat lingers. During match hours, there is a 60-75 percent chance of rain. God forbids, if the match doesn’t take place, India will qualify for the final by the virtue of fishing top in the group, whereas England will have to take the flight back home. Unfair as it may seem, it is what it is.
Below are certain pointers surrounding the India vs England T20 World Cup semifinal:
– India are yet to lose a match in the T20 World Cup.
– Rohit Sharma is India’s leading run-scorer in the tournament.
– Arshdeep Singh is India’s highest wicket-taker and the tournament’s second-highest behind Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Faarooqi.
– India and England have two wins against each other in ICC tournaments since 2011 World Cup.
– Virat Kohli is yet to get going, cutting a sorry figure of 66 runs, including two ducks.
