It will be a rematch of the semifinal from the 2022 edition of the tournament as a red-hot Team India will meet England in the second semifinal of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Guyana on Thursday.
The last time these two nations faced off in a Men’s T20 World Cup semi-final was just 19 months ago in Adelaide, when a remarkable opening partnership between Jos Buttler and Alex Hales saw England cruise to 10 wicket win that forced a complete rethink in India’s T20 strategy and move away from more established superstars to younger blood, from conservatism to aggression.
This time around, though, India has more batting firepower led by experienced campaigners skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, more attacking options through the middle overs, and more variation in their attack, but the defending champions will take some beating, especially with skipper Jos Buttler and his new opening partner Phil Salt both in blistering form.
England is just two games away from making history and becoming the first men’s team to retain a T20 World Cup, as per ICC.
On the other hand, India has not won this tournament since its inception back in 2007, and is searching for its first World Cup win in any format since 2011’s 50-over tournament. India’s last ICC trophy was in 2013, when they captured the ICC Champions Trophy in England.
The Guyana National Stadium is a 20,000-seater venue on the outskirts of Georgetown, situated just off the banks of the Demerara River and a few kilometres from the coast.
This is the sixth and final game to be held at the venue during the tournament, with the previous five all coming in Group C during the first-round stage. Spinners have been quite effective on the ground, but there’s also been a bit on the surface for the pacers, with the highest score across the five games being Afghanistan’s 183/5 against Uganda.
India has won every game they have been able to compete in, with the only dropped points coming from the abandoned fixture against Canada at a rain-soaked Lauderhill in Florida.
Impressive wins over Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Australia secured their spot in the knockout stages as the winners of Group one in the Super Eight.
England, by contrast, have got here the hard way. A rained-off match against Scotland was followed by a loss to arch-rivals Australia right at the start of their campaign, leaving them needing huge wins and favours from elsewhere to reach the Super Eights. But they managed just that, qualifying ahead of Scotland on net run rate, interestingly, thanks to their rivals, Australia.
And in the Super Eight, a narrow seven-run loss to South Africa meant England was sweating somewhat, despite already having comfortably beaten hosts West Indies by eight wickets. That win, and the nature of it, proved important, giving them a significant Net Run Rate advantage that they boosted further with a ten-wicket hammering of the USA to effectively qualify with a game to spare. South Africa’s victory over West Indies helped them secure the second spot in the group, sending them to this semi-final rather than being the top seed in the semi-final one.
India named a settled side throughout their Super Eight campaign, having added Kuldeep Yadav in place of Mohammed Siraj from the team who dominated the Group Stage.
It is quite likely they will continue with that exact balance, given it offers six frontline bowling options, with three pacers and three spinners.
The only possible change, given the expected nature of the Guyana surface, is that Yuzvendra Chahal could be added for another spinning threat.
England moved away from the batting-heavy balance that they started the tournament with, leaving out Will Jacks and playing four front-line pace bowlers, with Sam Curran and Chris Jordan slotting in at seven and eight to avoid an excessively lengthy tail, and Mark Wood missing out.
There could be the option of bringing Jacks back as a part-time spin option, or even handing a debut to Tom Hartley who is in the squad as an additional main spinner.
But England does have spin-bowling all-rounders Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone in their top six, both of whom have bowled well when called upon, so may opt to stick with the formula that got them through the Super Eight.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj.
England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood. (ANI)
