IND Vs ENG, T20 World Cup Semifinal: India Outplay England To Set Up South Africa Final

The two unbeaten sides of the T20 World Cup 2024, India and South Africa, will go up against each other in the final of the competition as the Men In Blue brushed aside the challenge from the defending champions England in the second semifinal on Thursday in Guyana. (Live Blog | Scorecard)

A second consecutive half-century of the tournament from skipper Rohit Sharma and a crucial 47 off 36 balls from Suryakumar Yadav pushed India to an above-par total of 171/7 in 20 overs on a low-bouncing Guyana surface. Axar Patel then ripped through the English top-order and Kuldeep Yadav took care of the rest as the defending champions were bowled out for just 103 in 16.3 overs to hand India a 68-run victory.

India will now meet South Africa on Saturday in Barbados to decide the winner of the T20 World Cup 2024.

After a 13-run third over from Arshdeep Singh raised England's hopes, it all went downhill.

Axar Patel got the ball in the fourth ball, he struck straightaway sending England skipper Jos Buttler back to the pavillion on the first ball. Bumrah bowled the other opener Phil Salt in the next over and the same fate awaited Jonny Bairstow in the sixth over by Axar.

With the big three of the English batting line-up sent back in the powerplay, the defending champions were forced to play catch-up throughout the chase.

Axar struck again in his third over dismissing Moeen Ali to complete a Player Of The Match performance for himself.

After Axar, the wicket-taking baton was passed on to Kuldeep Yadav who got the wickets of Harry Brook, Sam Curran and Chris Jordan to extinguish any hopes of an England comeback.

Archer hit a couple of sixes down the ground but his fell to Bumrah as the last wicket and India wrapped up a dominating 68-run win to advance to the summit clash.

Earlier, the game was off to a delayed start of more than an hour due to wet outfield.

England skipper Buttler then won the toss and put India to bat first.

The pitch showed signs of low bounce from the beginning and England opening bowling pair of Reece Topley and Jofra Archer put India under pressure early on. The pressure got the better of Virat Kohli who jumped out of his crease to smash Topley only to miss the ball and see his stumps in disarray. Kohli got out for 9 and now averages a minimal 10.66 in this tournament.

Rishabh Pant followed Kohli to the pavillion soon and then the Mumbai Indiand duo of Rohit and Suryakumar took the charge. Undeterred by a rain break, the duo put up a 73-run partnership in just 50 balls for the third wicket.

Adil Rashid broke the stand to reap rewards for his beautiful bowling and India promoted Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Shivam Dube. Both Hardik and Jadeja played nice little cameos to take India to 171 despite losing Surykumar to Jofra Archer at a crucial juncture. Chris Jordan picked three wickets for England.

Where to watch India vs South Africa T20 World Cup final?

The T20 World Cup 2024 final will be streamed live on Disney+Hotstar and aired on the Star Sports Network on TV. The match will begin at 8:00PM IST on June 29, Saturday.