T20 World Cup 2022: Three things to know before India vs England semi-final
India will take on England in the semi-finals of the T20 World cup 2022 at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, November 10. The match starts at 13:30 IST and is expected to be played in front of a packed crowd and produce an explosive contest.
Before the start of the tournament, many fans were of the opinion that this Indian team might not go beyond the Super 12 stage in the World Cup. Virat Kohli's poor form, strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah's injury, and a shocking exit from the recently concluded Asia Cup T20 pointed towards an early exit from the T20 World Cup for India.
However, the Men in Blue bounced back and despite some scratchy performances, managed to get into the semi-finals.
On that note, here are three things that could add further intrigue towards the game against England.
#3 Virat Kohli is inching towards another record
India has been missing this man for a while. In fact, the man himself felt he was missing something and took some much-needed breaks from the game. Virat Kohli returned to his form with a bang in the opening match against Pakistan and has not looked back since.
In his illustrious career thus far, Kohli has broken a lot of records and even set a few of his own. He recently equaled Ricky Ponting's record for the second-most number of centuries in international cricket and also went past Indian captain Rohit Sharma to become the highest run-getter in T20 internationals.
On Thursday, Kohli will be eyeing yet another record in T20 internationals as he needs 42 more runs to become the first player to reach 4000 runs in T20Is. Indian fans will be hoping that Kohli scores a lot more than that to ensure a smooth passage to the finals.
#2 Suryakumar Yadav's form against England
Suryakumar Yadav seems to be playing a different version of cricket which is only known to him. He looks to be having the time of his life on the pitch whenever he gets to bat.
If he gets to bat against England in the knockout stages of the tournament, he will be hoping to continue his form and help his country towards victory. Suryakumar's form against England in T20Is has already proved to be good. He scored his first and only T20I century against the side only a few months back.
Chasing a score of 216 in the second innings, Suryakumar played the role of a lone warrior who almost took India to victory with a score of 117 runs from 55 balls with six sixes and fourteen boundaries. Suryakumar made his T20I debut against England in March 2021 and has scored a total of 260 runs in five innings (six games) so far against them, which is almost about a fifth of his total runs in T20Is.
#1 Interesting tale behind the India's game
Back in 2007, both India and Pakistan reached the semi-finals of the first edition of the T20 World Cup. They ended up facing each other in the final, where the Men in Blue managed to inch past their arch rivals to lift the World Cup for the first time.
While it will be a repeat for Pakistan when they play New Zealand on Wednesday, whom they have defeated in the 2007 semi-finals, India face England the following day in the second semi-final.
An interesting tale behind this game would be the fact that India played Australia in the 2007 semi-final who were the ODI World Champions at the time. Indian fans will be hoping that history repeats itself when India face the current ODI World Champions England in their semi-final game on Thursday.
India have a slight edge over England in T20Is, winning 12 of the 22 games played between the teams so far. Both teams have faced each other thrice in the T20 World Cup, with India coming on top on two of those occasions. Who can forget the six sixes hit by Yuvraj Singh in an over against Stuart Broad en route to his twelve-ball fifty in 2007?