"You sometimes just hope they get out" - Moeen Ali on battle against 'world-class' Rohit Sharma in IND vs ENG 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final
England all-rounder Moeen Ali said on Tuesday that bowling against "world-class" Rohit Sharma in T20s involves "hoping" that he gives away his wicket. He heaped praise on the Indian skipper and hoped that England's experience and the unpredictability of the T20 format would help them in the World Cup semi-final against the Men in Blue on Thursday.
After struggling for a couple of years in T20Is, Rohit Sharma played one of the best knocks ever by an Indian on Monday - 92 (41) against Australia, including seven fours and eight sixes, which proved to be a match-winning one.
"He's a world-class player - one of the best players in the world," Moeen said about Rohit. "You sometimes just hope they get out in T20s. That's the thing in cricket, especially T20 cricket: you're not always guaranteed runs, no matter how good you're playing. But they've got other players as well."
"They're just a brilliant side. They've got everything covered, so we're going to have to be at our best to beat them. I'm looking forward to it, actually: it's a great challenge, similar to the last time we played them in the semi-final in Australia. It's going to be a challenge, and we're going to have to plan and play really well," the all-rounder added.
India will arrive in Guyana unbeaten in the group stage as well as the Super-Eights. The defending champions, meanwhile, made it through the group stage on net run rate before finally turning it up to be the first team to qualify from their Super-Eights group.
"We were unbelievable" - Moeen Ali on England's 2022 semi-final win over India
In 2022, when England played India in the T20 World Cup semi-final in Australia, they chased 169 in just 16 overs without losing any wickets, registering one of the most clinical wins at this stage of the tournament in history. Moeen credited it to the "clinical" preparations in the lead-up to the game on Thursday, adding:
"But [also] the way we took them on, and we were unbelievable with the bat. We set the game up on that wicket with the ball. Even when they got away from us a little bit at the end, it was a bit late. That was a great day, and a great performance."
Catch all the live action from the semi-final here.