What happened the last time India played England in a men's T20 World Cup clash?
Team India will square off against defending champions England in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Thursday, June 26. The winner of this clash will face either South Africa or Afghanistan in the final on June 29.
With a final berth on the line, both teams will come hard at each other. The two teams have previously played several close matches in the shortest format of the game. The two teams have played 23 T20Is against each other, with India taking honors 12 times, while England came out on top on 11 occasions.
Meanwhile, both teams share the honors when it comes to T20 World Cups. Each side have won twice in four overall meetings so far. The last the two teams met in T20 World Cups was in the last edition in 2022 at the Adelaide Cricket Ground.
With a place in the final up for grabs, England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to field first. The Men in Blue were jolted early after Chris Woakes got the better of KL Rahul in the second over. However, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli staged a recovery by guiding India to 38/1 after the powerplay.
Rohit, who scrapped through 27 runs off 28 balls, holed out to Sam Curran off Chris Jordan's bowling while trying to break loose. Suryakumar Yadav failed to get going and followed suit to reduce India to 75/3 in 11.2 overs. The right-hander tried to take on the leg-spin of Adil Rashid, only to find Phil Salt at deep cover.
With English bowlers tightening the screws, the Men in Blue needed to stitch together a good performance to help the side post a challenging total. Kohli found an able ally in Hardik Pandya and added 61 runs for the fourth wicket. Just when it looked like Kohli was in to play another blinder, he was caught excellently by Moeen Ali at short third of Jordan's bowling.
While it looked like England would steamroll India's batting, Hardik led a brilliant recovery with a power-packed knock. The ace all-rounder smacked 63 off 33 balls at a strike rate of 190.90, including four boundaries and five towering sixes. Courtesy of Hardik's blistering innings, the Men in Blue posted 168/6 in their 20 overs.
Chris Jordan was the pick of the bowlers for the English side, returning with figures of 3/43 from four overs while Woakes and Rashid picked up one wicket each.
Jos Buttler and Alex Hales' masterclass blew India away in front of a packed Adelaide crowd
India were thought to have posted a challenging total at the halfway stage. However, the perception changed once the second innings began.
England openers, Alex Hales and Jos Buttler, were in some mood that day and it felt like they couldn't do any wrong. They smacked every Indian bowler to all parts of the park to cross the winning line in just 16 overs.
Buttler remained unbeaten on 80 off 49 balls, while Hales smashed 86* off 47 balls to take the team to the final and knock the Men in Blue out of the tournament.
England eventually went on to win the tournament by beating Pakistan in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).