Mumbai: After winning the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2007 and finishing runners-up in 2014, India qualified for the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for the third time with a resounding win against England on Thursday. Having reached the final of the Test Championship and ODI World Cup in 2023, it will be the third successive time that Rohit Sharma and Co will be competing in the summit clash of an ICC event.
At the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown on Saturday, India will be up against Aiden Markram-led South Africa. While both teams have remained unbeaten in the tournament, unlike the Proteas who scraped through a number of games, India have had a fairly straightforward path to the final.
Having said that, there were some key moments along the way when India managed to find a way out after being pushed into a corner. Here’s a look at them:
Group game against Pakistan:
On a tricky New York pitch that offered plenty of assistance to fast bowlers, India were asked to bat first by Babar Azam and could never get going. Skipper Rohit and Virat Kohli were sent packing inside the first three overs before Rishabh Pant (42) and Axar Patel (20) added a 39-run partnership, but the rest of the batters perished for single-digit scores and India were bowled-out for just 119 in 19 overs.
In reply, Pakistan seemed to be in firm control of the chase at 72/2 after 12 overs with opener Mohammad Rizwan holding fort. However, with just 47 runs left to defend, India turned things around in the most dramatic fashion. They managed to restrict Pakistan to 113/7 and clinched a memorable six-run victory, which remains their tightest win in the tournament. Hardik Pandya delivered a couple of crucial blows while Mohammed Siraj bowled an economical spell (0/19), but the star of the show was Jasprit Bumrah who returned with sensational figures of 3/14. Rohit, too, deserved credit for not panicking and keeping a couple of Bumrah overs for the death.
Group game against USA:
Once again, the surface at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York offered a stern test for batters. Only this time, hosts USA went in first and got skittled out for 110. Arshdeep Singh notched up his best bowling figures (4/9) in T20I cricket and it seemed India would cruise to victory. Eventually, they did complete a comprehensive win but it came after an early scare in the chase.
Openers Rohit and Kohli fell cheaply again, with former Mumbai pacer Saurabh Netravalkar continuing his impressive form with the new ball. From 10/2, India slipped to 39/3 in the eighth over when Rishabh Pant (18) squandered a start. With 72 runs still to get on what was a challenging pitch, there would have definitely been some nerves in the Indian dressing room. But Suryakumar Yadav (50* off 49) and Shivam Dube (31* off 35) steadied in the ship with mature knocks and completed the chase with 10 balls to spare.
Super 8 game against Australia:
Rohit finally struck form with a sizzling 41-ball 92 after being asked to bat first. The skipper blended aggression with composure even as Kohli fell for a five-ball duck and Pant walked back for a 14-ball 15. He went after the likes of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins and showcased some incredible strokeplay either side of the pitch. With Suryakumar (31 off 16), Dube (28 off 22) and Pandya (27* off 17) also adding crucial runs, India finished with a formidable total of 205/5.
However, despite David Warner perishing in the first over, in what turned out to be his last international game, Australia fought their way to a promising position in the chase. Travis Head was once again the bane for India and struck a blazing half-century (76 off 43). At 128/2 after 12 overs, with captain Mitchell Marsh (37) and Glenn Maxwell (20) also getting starts, the Aussies would have fancied their chances needing 78 off 48 with eight wickets in hand. But like they did against Pakistan, India’s bowlers delivered under pressure to turn things around. Arshdeep (3/37) got the most wickets but it was Kuldeep Yadav (2/24) who returned with the most economical spell as Australia were restricted to 181/7.
Semi-final against England:
This match had two phases where India’s players showed character to get out of trouble. The first was with the bat when Rohit (57 off 39) and Suryakumar (47 off 36) steadied the ship after Kohli and Pant were dismissed early again. The two right-handers showed great skill to keep the scoring rate up on a pitch that had plenty of demons in it. Pandya (23 off 13), Ravindra Jadeja (17* off 9) and Axar Patel (10 off 6) also landed crucial blows and India ended up with an above-par total of 171/7.
England, though, came out aggressively with the bat and raced to 26/0 in three overs. The defending champions had thumped India by 10 wickets at the same stage in the previous edition of the tournament and would have backed themselves to chase the target. But India’s bowling might came to the fore yet again as England suffered a stunning collapse to lose 10 wickets for the next 77 runs. Axar (3/23) began the procession by getting the key wicket of Jos Buttler, before Kuldeep (3/19) and Bumrah (2/12) joined the party to complete the payback.
