T20 World Cup Semi Final

Author

Shayan Mukherjee
August 09, 2024

Venue: Providence Stadium, Guyana. Travelling for their fourth match in as many locations in the space of eight days, the team’s ability to adapt to wildly differing conditions (both in terms of the overheads along with the surface itself) was once again put to the test. Unlike India’s final group stage game in Gros Islet, which was contested on a hard, flat pitch with true bounce that encouraged aggressive strokeplay, our semi-final was to be played on a surface offering low bounce and quick, drastic turn. Fortunately, these conditions resembled those that exist in the latter stages of test matches in grounds in India, where the cracks open up and the spinners are able to extract grip and spin, meaning we were well equipped to handle the challenges presented at providence. The game promised to be a low-scoring affair, with the average first-innings score at the ground (since July 2021) a mere 151 and the run-rate on the lower side at 7.18. While the conditions arguably gave us an advantage over the seamer-heavy England bowling attack, they were neutralised by the presence of Jos Buttler at the top of the order, a masterful player of spin adept at manipulating the field with his repertoire of sweeps. Below is a link to cricinfo’s guide on the venue prior to the match: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/t20-world-cup-2024-india-vs-sa-providence-venue-guide-go-hard-in-powerplay-sharp-turn-and-low-bounce-1440924 

 

Match summary (quantitative):  

India - 171/7 (20) 

England - 103 (16.4) 

 

Result: India won by 68 runs  

 

Match summary (qualitative): Batting first once again, Rohit and Virat stuck to their blueprint of taking the attack to the opposition seamers in the powerplay and getting the team off to a flyer to put them ahead of the game. Kohli’s poor run of form continued - it was looking like he was playing a game completely foreign to his psyche and understanding of T20 cricket. He moved around the crease to create angles and went at the ball with hard hands, eventually missing an agricultural hoick and losing his leg stump to Topley. Rohit also enjoyed some luck, barely clearing the infield on his lofted drives (as the ball was not coming on to the bat) and edging Topley past short third man for four. After the powerplay, the Indian captain steadied the ship brilliantly with the typically enterprising Suryakumar Yadav, either side of a lengthy rain delay. Rohit unfurled his reverse paddle, hitting Adil Rashid off his line on the stumps and bisecting the point and short third fielders, while Surya brought out his renowned ‘Supla’ shot to account for the low bounce and generate enough elevation to obtain maximums. Between these calculated attacks was the frequent, drip-like maneouvring of the strike that forms the backbone of innings on turners. The highlights of their partnership included Rohit obliterating Rashid’s length ball with a step-hit over long-on and then sweeping a seamer over fine-leg for six to get to his fifty, along with Surya’s physics-defying slice over third man. Both the Mumbai batsmen were experienced enough to guide India out of stormy waters and, by the time they were both dismissed India were poised to finish with a flourish. Hardik Pandya cleared his front leg and sent two sixes hard and flat over Long-on and Long-off against Chris Jordan off two consecutive balls, and both Jadeja and Axar pillaged vital runs at the back-end of the innings, dragging India to a formidable score of 171. 

 

While it was difficult to fully grasp the impregnability of that score on this Guyana wicket at the start of the second innings, the havoc wreaked by our spinners hammered that message home - India had comfortably gotten a score 30 runs above par. Jos Buttler looked promising, but Axar Patel nabbed him in the powerplay, allowing yet another tactical masterstroke from Rohit Sharma to bear fruit. Bumrah castled Salt, and, by the end of the powerplay, England’s chase was already in shambles at 39-3. The formalities were merely left to be completed, and Kuldeep, perfectly complimenting Axar Patel, ripped through England’s middle order, while Bumrah, as he has done so often in the tournament, came back to land the knockout blow. 

 

Star performers: 

  • Rohit Sharma - 57 (39) 

  • Suryakumar Yadav - 47 (36) 

  • Axar Patel - 10 (6) & 3-23 (4) 

  • Kuldeep Yadav - 3-19 (4) 

 

Notes on star performers: How many times has Rohit Sharma done this in test matches for India? 2021 Chennai comes to mind, or 2023 Nagpur. On a spinning track (commonly referred to as a ‘bunsen’ by Australians, reflecting its propensity to ‘burn’ batsmen), he salvages the Indian innings with a proactive knock studded with precise sweeps and adept wristwork. While, in those matches, he set up test victories for India, he brought that same simplicity to a T20 innings, and that philosophy worked out wonderfully. From the first over that Rashid bowled, Rohit showed that he was not afraid to take risks and sweep from a stump-to-stump line, and this confidence gave Suryakumar the freedom to play his natural game at the other end. His pyrotechnics complemented Rohit’s experience beautifully, and the manner in which the senior duo navigated our innings deserves recognition - we could have easily lost wickets in a cluster and collapsed for a paltry total.  

 

Axar Patel, while contributing with a six towards the end of the Indian innings, was fantastic in the powerplay. On pitches where the ball is turning square, it is often the spinner that gets the least purchase and skids the ball on that proves the most dangerous. Axar’s trademark high and wide release and extreme angle from wide off the crease and into the stumps did him no harm either. He got Buttler toe-ending a reverse sweep (which was slightly lucky), and completely deceived both Bairstow (who thought he had enough room to flay a ball starting outside off but ended up losing his off stump as the delivery went on with the angle) and Moeen Ali (who was defeated by Axar’s tight line and Pant’s quick glovework to stump him). In sharp contrast, Kuldeep exploited the conditions wonderfully and cleverly disguised his variations to dismiss both Sam Curran (with a googly that he didn’t pick) and Chris Jordan (with a flipper sneaking under his sweep) LBW. He also dismissed England’s rising superstar, Harry Brook, getting him bowled behind his legs to dash England’s hopes one final time. Finally, that ball from Bumrah deserves a mention. What is left to say about the man? His mind is so sharp and his game awareness so astute that he recognised how potent a weapon the offcutter would be on a pitch like this even before Phil Salt was set. The delivery started outside off and ripped back in like a genuine offbreak to beat Salt both for pace and lateral movement to hit the off peg. Masterful. 

 

 

 

Surround Sound: Through to a final! The narrative surrounding the match was primarily how it was a rematch of the 2022 T20 world cup final, where India struggled to a below-par score and were lifeless in the field while defending it. It was poetic that we reached a final by exacting revenge on the same opponents, with our new batting approach being primarily responsible for the victory!!