Rohit Sharma, spinners guide India to third T20 World Cup final, South Africa up next

Georgetown (Guyana), June 27

Skipper Rohit Sharma’s grace was matched by the might of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav as India exorcised the ghosts of 2022 by handing defending champions England a 68-run thrashing to enter the final of the T20 World Cup here on Thursday.

Rohit thus became the first Indian captain to lead the country in three ICC global finals in a space of 12 months — 2023 World Test Championship, 2023 ODI World Cup and now the T20 World Cup.

The Indian skipper, who has always received flak for not scoring on big days, contributed an invaluable 57 off 39 balls on a track where the ball consistently kept low, as India posted 171/7 in 20 overs.

Credit should also be given to Suryakumar Yadav for his 47 off 36 balls and Hardik Pandya for his two mighty sixes in a 13-ball-23. Ravindra Jadeja (17) and Axar Patel (10) also chipped in with useful contributions.

In reply, England lost five wickets at the halfway stage and never recovered to be all out for 103 in 16.4 overs.

Axar (3/23 in 4 overs) and Kuldeep Yadav (3/19 in 4 overs) shared the spoils with the ball. The redoubtable Jasprit Bumrah (2/12 in 2.4 overs) did his bit with a classic slow off-cutter that saw the back of the dangerous Phil Salt.

The 2007 champions will meet South Africa in the final in Barbados on Saturday. In 2022, India were pummelled by 10 wickets in the semi-final at Adelaide after England had restricted them to a similar total. But the conditions at Providence Stadium made batting difficult. — PTI

Scoreboard

India

R Sharma b Rashid 57

V Kohli b Topley 9

R Pant c Bairstow b Curran 4

S Yadav c Jordan b Archer 47

H Pandya c Curran b Jordan 23

R Jadeja not out 17

S Dube c Buttler b Jordan 0

A Patel c Salt b Jordan 10

A Singh not out 1

Extras: (lb 2, w 1) 3

Total: (7 wickets, 20 overs) 171

FOW: 1-19, 2-40, 3-113, 4-124, 5-146, 6-146, 7-170

Bowling O M R W

Reece Topley 3 0 25 1

Jofra Archer 4 0 33 1

Sam Curran 2 0 25 1

Adil Rashid 4 0 25 1

Chris Jordan 3 0 37 3

Liam Livingstone 4 0 24 0

England

P Salt b Bumrah 5

J Buttler c Pant b Patel 23

M Ali st Pant b Patel 8

J Bairstow b Patel 0

H Brook b Yadav 25

S Curran lbw b Yadav 2

L Livingstone run out (Yadav) 11

C Jordan lbw b Yadav 1

J Archer lbw b Bumrah 21

A Rashid run out (Yadav) 2

R Topley not out 3

Extras: (lb 2) 2

Total: (all out, 16.4 overs) 103

FOW: 1-26, 2-34, 3-35, 4-46, 5-49, 6-68, 7-72, 8-86, 9-88

Bowling O M R W

Arshdeep Singh 2 0 17 0

Jasprit Bumrah 2.4 0 12 2

Axar Patel 4 0 23 3

Kuldeep Yadav 4 0 19 3

Ravindra Jadeja 3 0 16 0

Hardik Pandya 1 0 14 0

Player of the Match: Axar Patel

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