 "T20 World Cup: How batters, especially Suryakumar Yadav, played a key role in India's semi-final victory over England")
India had entered Thursday’s T20 World Cup semi-final against England in Guyana as strong favourites and had the playing conditions firmly in their favour, given the forecast for rain and thunderstorms along with the fact that a washout would have sent them straight into the final.
T20 World Cup 2024: News | Schedule | Results | Points Table
Rohit Sharma and Co were also firmly focused on one objective — to give Jos Buttler’s men a taste of their own medicine by landing a knockout punch with the kind of brute force that would leave a lasting impact and would take a while to recover from.
The Men in Blue, after all, had suffered a humiliating exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia with a 10-wicket thrashing at the hands of eventual winners England in Adelaide. They were made to look utterly clueless in the knockout clash as Buttler and opening partner Alex Hales chased down a target of 169 with all 10 wickets in hand and nearly four overs to spare.
The events of the second semi-final of the 2024 T20 World Cup at the Providence Stadium, however, appeared to be a role reversal of sorts. Buttler had opted to field on both occasions and India would post 171/7 on the board, just three more than what they had managed in Adelaide while losing an extra wicket. Only this time, England would barely managed to cross 100 as the Indian left-arm spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav ran riot while Jasprit Bumrah was his usual brilliant self.
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Both semi-finals would turn out to be one-sided affairs with South Africa demolishing Afghanistan by nine wickets in the other fixture in Trinidad after bundling them out for 56. What was common in the two games, however, was the fact that the Proteas and the Men in Blue set the tone for the rest of the game in the first innings itself, with the second essay turning out to be a breeze.
Impact Shorts
View AllThings could have turned out very differently for South Africa had Afghanistan bowled first and restricted them to a sub-par total instead. Who knows how the Proteas would have responded in the second innings, given their history in World Cup knockouts. Similarly for the Men in Blue, the day might have turned out quite differently had it been them chasing a competitive target on a challenging Guyana wicket instead of the Englishmen.
SKY shines bright in rainy Guyana
Another match-winning half-century from the in-form Rohit as well as vital contributions from Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja was what made the difference for the Men in Blue.
India was a team who used to be 10-20 runs short (example Adelaide 2022). Now with their top-order taking more risks and giving more balls to the middle/lower hitters, they are mostly above par scores. No surprise they are unbeaten and will play the final. #T20WC24
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) June 27, 2024
A score in the range of 150 would have been more than handy for the Indians given the sheer quality and variety in their attack, especially in the spin department. India ended up collecting 20 more than what they would have originally expected, which gave them a solid psychological boost at the innings interval and allowed their bowlers, especially Axar and Kuldeep, to dictate terms soon as they had collected a couple of early wickets in the English chase.
Difference between the two sides - India had 3 batters Rohit, Surya and Hardik who could play some unbelievable shots to have a strike rate well above par on a very difficult pitch. England didn’t.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) June 27, 2024
Great win for India! 👏👏👏
It was virtually one-man show in St Lucia that helped India defeat Australia in a high-scoring contest that resulted in the Mitch Marsh-led side failing to reach the semis for a second consecutive edition. Rohit headlined India’s dominant batting performance with a knock of 92 off 41 balls, racing past fifty in just 19 deliveries.
The kind of form that he is at the moment and the manner in which he’s taking opposition bowlers apart, in the powerplay overs and beyond, another half-century in a match-winning cause was on the cards for the ‘Hitman’. What gave the Bumrah-led attack the cushion of at least 20 runs however, was the contributions from the others in the batting department, and this is where Surya’s 47 off 36 balls certainly deserves a shout-out.
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SKY’s knock of 31 off just 16 deliveries against Australia proved handy, but had ultimately slipped under the radar due to the sheer brutality unleashed by the ‘Hitman’. On Thursday, Surya’s role was a lot more prominent as stitched a 73-run stand for the third wicket that took India’s score past 100 with plenty of wickets in hand.
Surya looked in great nick from the moment he arrived, collecting his first boundary in his second delivery of the day by going for an aerial drive down the ground past Sam Curran, right after the left-arm seamer had dismissed Rishabh Pant. It didn’t take long for the Mumbai Indians batter to bring out his signature ‘Supla’ shot — getting down on one knee and swiping a length ball from Chris Jordan to clear fine leg for his first maximum.
Not even an extended rain-forced break could break his focus, or that of the skipper. After patting a few deliveries for singles once play resumed, SKY didn’t take long to take the attack to Adil Rashid, sweeping a full toss behind square for a four.
His finest moment, however, came in the 13th over when Surya steered a full delivery from Curran behind square, sending the ball high in the air and clearing the backward point fence in the process.
Rohit had survived a few nervy moments early in the powerplay, with his first boundary coming off a thick edge that flew over a fairly wide short third. He would cut a short-of-length delivery from Jofra Archer in the following over that nearly resulted in a catch for Phil Salt at point. Rohit, however, was a different beast once set and was unstoppable for the next 10 overs or so.
SKY’s knock barely had any blemishes on the other hand, and the Indian No 4 appeared set for a third half-century in the tournament. He was eventually foxed by a back-of-the-hand slower delivery from Jofra Archer that resulted in a simple catch for Jordan at long on. Surya, however, was playing to the situation at that point where he needed to get a few big hits, even at the risk of perishing, and ultimately fell just three short of his fifty.
Ind vs Eng stats | Bumrah closes in on Arshdeep’s record, Axar hits landmark six and more
“At one stage, 140-150 looked par. But we got runs in the middle, SKY and I were going and thought we can get 20-25 more. I didn’t want to give that away, wanted to let the batters play on instinct,” Rohit said after India’s commanding victory, reflecting on the role played by the batters especially him and Surya.
There still are some lingering doubts over Suryakumar Yadav the ODI batter given the competition for slots in the middle order with the likes of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. Thursday’s knock, however, once again underlines his status as one of the world’s best when it comes to batters in the shortest format, if not the No 1.
The knock will also have silenced a section of Indian cricket fans, especially the keyboard warriors on social media who had termed him a “minnow-basher” and described him as someone who couldn’t quite perform for the team in crunch games. With his sparkling innings on a tough Guyana wicket against the defending champions nonetheless, Surya’s left barely any room for his critics, besides helping the Men in Blue reach the final of an ICC World Cup for the second time in less than a year.
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