India crush England by 68 runs to enter the 2024 T20 World Cup final
India secured a dominant 68-run victory over England to reach the 2024 T20 World Cup final on Thursday, June 27, at Providence Stadium in Guyana. This will be their third final appearance in the tournament's history after emerging as champions in 2007 and runner-ups in the 2014 edition.
Invited to bat first, the Men in Blue lost Virat Kohli (9) and Rishabh Pant (4) early. However, the experienced pair of Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav (47) kept their heads calm to steer the Indian team at a comfortable rate. They stitched a 73-run stand to build a solid platform, before Sharma was dismissed for a well-compiled 57 off 39 balls.
Thereafter, Hardik Pandya (23) and Ravindra Jadeja (17) were the key contributors, as India posted a strong total of 171/7 on the board. Chris Jordan finished with figures of 3/37 for England.
In response, Jos Buttler started the chase in electric fashion, scoring boundaries at will. However, his reverse-sweep against Axar Patel could only find a faint edge and was caught by Rishabh Pant. Soon, Jasprit Bumrah breached the defense of Phil Salt with a slower off-cutter, which opened the floodgates for India. Kuldeep Yadav then started weaving his magic to secure consistent breakthroughs.
The Buttler-led side could not arrest their slide, as they were bundled out for 103 runs. Kuldeep (3/19) and Axar (3/23) were the pick of the bowlers for India.
India to meet South Africa in 2024 T20 World Cup final
Prior to India winning against England, South Africa handed a nine-wicket loss to Afghanistan in the first semifinal of the T20 World Cup. Tabraiz Shamsi (3/6) and Marco Jansen (3/16) stole the show, while Kagiso Rabada (2/14) and Anrich Nortje (2/7) proved to be strong supports as they bowled out Afghanistan for a paltry total of 56.
Then, Reeza Hendricks (29*) and Aiden Markram (23*) remained unbeaten to seal the chase in 8.5 overs. Notably, this will be the first-ever ICC final for the Proteas.
India will clash with South Africa in the T20 World Cup final on Saturday (June 29) in Barbados.