T20 World Cup 2024: India breeze into final after edging England in 2nd semi

England were bundled out for 103 runs as India beat them by 68 runs in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Thursday.

India will now face South Africa in the final of the world's biggest cricket event on Saturday, June 29 in Barbados.

India's bowlers took English batters under pressure from the very outset of their innings. However, English batters started their innings with confidence while chasing the 172-run target. They smashed 26 runs without losing a single wicket in first three overs with skipper Jos Buttler looking in good form. However, Axar Patel dismissed him on the first ball of the fourth over.

Buttler's wicket was a tipping point for England who never recovered as Jasprit Bumrah increased their troubles by removing Phil Salt’s stumps.

India’s spin department continued to dominate the defending champions as Jonny Bairstow (0 off 3), Moeen Ali (8 off 10), Sam Curran (2 off 4) and Liam Livingstone (11 of 16), all failed to score big for the team.

Harry Brook provided some resistance by contributing 25 runs on 19 balls but he was removed by Kuldeep Yadav.

For India, Patel and Kuldeep bagged three wickets each while Bumrah got two as the entire English team was out for 103 runs in 16.4 overs.

In the first innings, India didn’t have a great start as Virat Kohli, once again, failed to perform in the ongoing tournament as he was bowled by Reece Topley after just scoring nine runs.

Following Kohli’s dismissal, Rishabh Pant too walked back to the pavilion after scoring just four runs, leaving India 40-2 in 5.2 overs.

However, after losing two wickets, India bounced back as Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma formed a 73-run partnership. The Hitman completed his half-century but fell to Adil Rashid’s googly after contributing 57 runs.

Yadav continued India’s attack after Sharma’s dismissal but he missed his half-century by just three runs by losing his wicket to Jofra Archer.

India lost wickets in quick succession with Hardik Pandya (23 off 13), and Shivam Dube (0 off 1), but Ravindra Jadeja (17 off 9) and Axar Patel (10 off 6) propelled India to 171 in the allocated overs.

For England, Chris Jordan picked three, while Adil Rashid, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer and Reece Topley bagged one wicket each.

Playing XIs

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah

England: Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Phil Salt, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley