It will be a battle of T20I giants as the Men in Blue take on England in the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in Guyana on Thursday. The Jos Buttler-led England side will look to reach their second consecutive T20 WC final while the Men in Blue will aim to avenge their crushing 10-wicket loss to the same opponent in the last-four encounter of the 2022 tournament in Adelaide. Since that heartbreaking loss in Adelaide, the Men in Blue have made a lot of changes to their white-ball game, bringing in a number of younger and more explosive talents like Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, among others.
Although the Men in Blue decided to bring back veteran captains Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after an incredible, record-breaking 50-over World Cup in India, the explosiveness and risk-taking that define modern T20 cricket still forms the heart of India’s approach, as seen from the performances of these two giants in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, especially Virat, who turned into the six-hitting, spin-demolishing machine of the old days, abandoning his more conservative and measured approach for the shorter format.
However, Virat has not been able to replicate his IPL form at the international level, scoring just 66 runs in six matches at an average of 11.00 with his best score being 37 and getting dismissed for zero twice. Having scored the most runs in the history of the T20 Cup, this campaign has somewhat dented his legacy as the best batsman in the tournament. However, if Virat returns to his clutch ways in the knockouts, all will be forgiven. Notably, Virat has hit a half-century in every T20 World Cup knockout game, including 72* (2014 semi-final), 77 (2014 final), 89* (2016 semi-final) and 50 (2022 semi-final).
Despite this poor performance, England coach Matthew Mott is not taking Virat lightly. In the pre-match press conference, he said about the star batsman, “Virat has proven his class over a long period of time and he is one of the players for whom we have prepared well. We know how he can play; we know how destructive he can be and we also know his game sense. If the game demands a different kind of innings, he has that skill.”
On the other hand, captain Rohit Sharma has shown better form. Rohit has so far scored 191 runs in six matches of the tournament at an average of 38.20, a strike rate of 159.16 and two half-centuries. His best score has been 92 runs.
The semi-final will be a contest between two explosive opening pairs, India’s ‘Ro-Ko’ pair vs England’s Butler (191 runs in six innings) and Phil Salt (183 runs in six innings). The pair has managed to score 286 runs in six innings in this tournament at an average of 57.20, with their best partnership being 117 runs.
Salt himself has been in great form since scoring two consecutive centuries in the T20 series against West Indies last year. He had a stellar performance in IPL 2024 for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He scored 435 runs in 12 matches, including four half-centuries for the champions. In the last 12 T20 matches, Salt has scored 507 runs in 11 innings at an average of 63.37 and a strike rate of over 182, including two centuries and a half-century. His best score is 119. The batsman has an average of 52.2 and a strike rate of 180 in West Indies, where he has scored two centuries and two half-centuries with 574 runs in 14 innings.
England will be up against two of the best fast bowlers in the tournament, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh. In six matches, Bumrah has taken 11 wickets in the tournament so far at an average of 8.54 and an economy rate of just over 4. His best bowling figures are 3/7. Arshdeep is the second-highest wicket-taker, taking 15 wickets in six matches at an average of 11.86 and best figures of 4/9. How Salt and Buttler survive his onslaught in the powerplay will be crucial in deciding the course of the match.
On the other hand, everything is going right for the Men in Blue, except perhaps Virat’s form. Undefeated, they have registered comprehensive wins while chasing and defending targets and their campaign has been an incredible team effort.
However, the pressure of playing in the knockouts turns out to be a different beast for India, who have fallen inches away from the ICC trophy almost every year after semifinal/final qualification. Rohit attributes India’s recent knockout performances to both fear of failure and bad luck.
“It’s both ways. See, we want to approach this game just like any other game we have played in this tournament. We don’t want to think about what’s going to happen next, what is the context of the game, and all that. Everyone knows in their minds that this is the semi-final. But you don’t want to talk about it again and again. And not think about what has happened in the past. I think all of us, the whole group, are in a good mental space. We are playing well as a team, enjoying each other’s company and each other’s success. I think it’s important to continue what we have been doing in this tournament,” the Indian captain said in the pre-match press conference.
While the encounter looks extremely promising, there is a threat of rain looming over this reunion of the 2022 T20 World Cup.
According to World Weather, Georgetown, Guyana is currently partly cloudy and the temperature is 24 degrees Celsius. Light and sporadic rainfall is expected across Guyana at 9 am local time, before rain begins at 10:30 am. Light rain is forecast every hour until 4 pm, after which the weather will be partly cloudy for the rest of the day.
India have been allotted a slot due to the timing of the Guyana semi-final match, as the 10:30 am Indian Standard Time slot is a more TV-friendly slot than the 8 pm. According to ESPNCricinfo, the final in Bridgetown, Barbados on June 29 will be at 10 am local time and 7:30 pm in India.
There will be no reserve day for the second semi-final. However, there will be 250 minutes of extra time for the match. This extra time has been added because the tournament schedule does not allow for reserve days. If a reserve day was given for semi-final two, it would mean there would be only one day between that game and the final for recovery and practice.
If it rains continuously, the second semi-final could be in trouble, because according to the rules, the result can only be decided if both teams bat for at least 10 overs. In most T20 games, teams batting second have to bat for at least five overs to get a result. This system was in place for most of the ICC T20 World Cup matches. But in knockout games, teams batting second must face at least 10 overs to decide the result as per the Duckworth-Lewis method. This was also the case for the knockout games of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
According to an ICC spokesperson, the overs will be reduced from 2:40 pm local time, which is 250 minutes after the scheduled 10:30 am start time. According to ESPNCricinfo, the spokesperson said that for a 10-over match, play should start at 4:14 pm local time.
If the game is not completed and is washed out due to rain, the Indian team will reach the final as they will top the Super Eight group, while England will finish second in Group Two.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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