Rohit, Axar and Kuldeep headline India’s thrashing of England

India have avenged their crushing ten-wicket pasting to England in Adelaide during the 2022 ICC Men’s World T20 World Cup semi-final by handing out a 68-run thrashing to the defending champions in Guyana. The win, headlined by Rohit Sharma and the spin pair of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, sets up a Barbados final between South Africa and India on June 29.

India, put into bat by Jos Buttler, made it to 171/7 in a rain-interrupted innings and then ran England over for 103 with 20 balls left to spare, with Axar taking 3/23 and Kuldeep netting 3/19 on a Guyana track that turned slower as the match progressed. 

Rain delayed the match, and then interrupted India’s innings after the eight-over mark by which time the score was 62/2 out of which 37 were Rohit’s. Virat Kohli advanced to Reece Topley to strike a superb six, but attempting the shot next ball he was bowled for a run-a-ball 9. Rishabh Pant made 4 before skipping out to Sam Curran and whipping to midwicket. 

Rohit’s aggression was to India’s best interests given the skiddy nature of the pitch. He backed his instincts and hit six fours before the rain interval, and on resumption Rohit eased to his second fifty in two matches. Having put on 73 with Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit tried to slog Adil Rashid’s legspin and was bowled for 57. Rashid and Liam Livingstone slowed proceedings down while conceding 49 runs from eight overs of spin, and when SKY departed for 47 looking to hit a six of Jofra Archer, England had an opening.

The wickets of Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube off successive deliveries from Chris Jordan at the death further stemmed India’s progress, but India still had a winning total on the board. 

It was Axar who snapped a threatening opening stand when Buttler tried to reverse-paddle him first ball and gloved an easy catch to Pant. Jasprit Bumrah than cleaned up Phil Salt, which set in a motion a nervous, fidgety chase which saw England’s big hitters completely flummoxed by Axar and Kuldeep. Axar bowled his bunny Jonny Bairstow for a duck and then saw Pant effect a superb stumping down the pads of Moeen Ali. 

All Kuldeep had to do was use his variations on a wearing surface to get Curran and Jordan lbw and bowl Harry Brook around the legs for 25, the highest of England’s innings. The last five wickets fell for 35 runs, a series of run-outs adding to a collapse from 68/5 in the 11th over to 103 all out. 

The results puts India in their first T20 World Cup final in a decade. Buttler’s England, meanwhile, have failed to defend the ODI and T20 World Cups in the past eight months.