 "A general view of the Providence Stadium in Guyana that will host semi-final 2 between India and England. Reuters")
Expect the spinners to rule the the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final 2 between India and England which will be played in Guyana on Thursday. The pitches at the Guyana National Stadium or Providence Stadium have always favoured spin bowlers and it’s the reason why the tweakers have bowled more overs than fast bowlers at the venue in T20 cricket.
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India’s match will be a day game, starting at 10.30 AM IST and in the last morning match at the venue, West Indies were made to work hard while chasing 137 against Papua New Guinea. The hosts were reduced to 97/5 at one stage before Roston Chase and Andre Russell helped them cross the line.
Providence Stadium, Guyana pitch report
Batting can be even more difficult during the semi-final 2 between India and England as it will be played on Pitch 3 of the Providence Stadium which was used only once in the tournament during the Uganda vs Papua New Guinea game. The match turned out to be a low-scoring affair with the associate teams together scoring just 155 runs and losing 17 wickets.
From Pitch 3 of the Providence Stadium, both the square boundaries are 73 metres away.
IND vs ENG: T20 World Cup semi-final preview
In such a case India will be relying on their three spinners – Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav to complete the job while England have Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid in their ranks.
To give you more idea about the Guyana pitch, in five matches played at the venue in T20 World Cup 2024, three have been won by the team batting first and the average first innings score is 146.
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It seems like the best plan to win a game in Guyana is to bat first, score runs in the powerplay, take advantage of the first innings and bowl second.
Guyana weather forecast
As far as the weather forecast is concerned, there’s a prediction of rain around the start of the match which could delay the game. The situation improves as the day progresses but the chances rise once again in the evening.
The semi-final 2 has no reserve day but additional 250 minutes will be given to finish the match.
If the match is completely washed out then India will reach the final as they finished at the top of their Super 8 group while England came second.