Surya’s 47, Kuldeep’s and Axar’s triple strikes in spin bowls and Rohit’s 57 from 39 balls lead to a smashing 68-run win for India against England in the semi finals. In the final, South Africa will face India.
Georgetown: The dream is almost reach. The years of wait that seemed never ending but ended on Thursday night are about to be over after one step. A lot of talk has gone round about India being given unfair advantages here and there but this team showed on Thursday that perhaps they did not need any such thing. They are just way ahead of the pack.
The same England massacred Indian cricket with ten wickets only a year and half ago on Adelaide Oval chasing almost the same number of runs; however this time around it was completely different as India held their head up high to secure a victory over them with a huge 68 run gap which puts them mentally at an advantageous position before meeting South Africa at Barbados on Saturday.
On far more difficult conditions, when asked to bat first, India posted a score of 171-5 which was well above par for a pitch that had plenty in it for bowlers. In response England were bowled out for 103 within mere 16.4 overs with major damage caused by Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav.
Within Powerplay itself Bumrah and Axar broke the back of England by removing Buttler who is so dangerous and Salt as captain Eoin Morgan looked helpless while facing the lethal Indian bowling attack. There wasn’t one single thing in their team line-up that could have potentially taken this chase close against all-round brilliance of Indian bowling.
The local people didn’t come for this game whilst West Indies’ defeat together with day game during week days would have made some continue with their normal lives instead spending their entire day in a cricket ground. There were, however, thousands of Indian fans that flew from around the world who enjoyed every minute of this roller-coaster ride that felt like a marathon due to the rain.
The first innings lasted an all-time record four hours with several stoppages which completely killed India’s run-rate on a pitch already difficult for batting. The moment Virat Kohli got out trying to hit an across-the-line shot one could sense trouble. But then there was Rohit Sharma.
Knowing too well he might not have another opportunity as captain and player to win an ICC trophy outside test cricket; skipper also knows this might be his last chance at winning any limited-overs ICC title. Determination has been part of every step he has taken so far and on Thursday it wasn’t anything different. His 57 off 39 balls showed during his knock against Australia in St Lucia just how versatile he could be in his stroke play. Because he knew that what happened in St Lucia against Australia could not happen here, he didn’t try to throw arms at everything. He played the waiting game here and dealt with the stray ones.
Yadav has found in his Suryakumar the perfect man who can help him to steady the ship in rough seas without slowing down the vessel. They kept running around like madmen, with each playing an occasional unorthodox shot as they dealt with leggie Aadil Rashid (1-25) who used the conditions to perfection and restricted their scoring. It took a lot of effort from Rashid to get Rohit out when he was trying to hit his googly beyond the boundary.
Surya had to keep going for the innings to have a final thrust of momentum. But Archer’s change of pace, on a slow wicket that often did not suit even T20’s best batter, got another catch deep.
