Rohit, Axar and Kuldeep lead India’s dismantling of England in semi-final

India 171 for 7 (Rohit 57, Suryakumar 47, Jordan 3-37) beat England 103 (Brook 25, Kuldeep 3-19, Axar 3-23) by 68 runs

India’s quest for a world title is well on course. It’s been 11 years since they stood on the podium as champions. Now all that separates them from glory is a few hours’ time and a fiery South African team.

Tactical battle in tough conditions

On a pitch like Guyana’s – where the pace was slow and the bounce was low – runs square and behind the wicket come at a premium. That’s because if a bowling unit is disciplined enough to hit a good length and keep the stumps in play, the batter just cannot force the pace. England planned to shut out half of the outfield to India but they weren’t always successful: 69 runs, including eight fours and three sixes, still came from where they shouldn’t have, at a strike rate of 192.

Rohit and risk

Within the powerplay period, Rohit was scoring at a strike rate of 133 with shots he was not at all in control of. For context, his overall career strike rate in T20Is is 141. This has been the difference India have been searching for. Don’t just bat waiting for the bad ball. Bat as if everything is a bad ball.

Rohit eventually settled. Since the fourth over, he was in control of 20 of 26 balls and he used that control to great effect, scoring 40 runs including four fours and two sixes. He’s accepted that risk is a part of T20 cricket and there’s no point being averse to it.

The Rashid recovery

India’s intent manifested in the form of their batters moving around in the crease. Even a bowler of the calibre of Adil Rashid found it hard to cope and that was a triumph because these were conditions where as a bowler all you had to do was hit a length to target the top of the stumps. The England wristspinner was 2-0-17-0. But he recovered. On the other side of the second rain break, which consumed 153 minutes of this game’s time in total, Rashid decided not to worry about where Rohit and Suryakumar were positioning themselves and instead began to hold a line on off stump. His reward was the wicket of the India captain for 57 off 39. Rashid’s final two overs went for only eight runs.

Spin is king

With Rashid done by the 14th over, India held Shivam Dube back believing that the quicks would be taking over. So Buttler found reason to press Liam Livingstone to work, trusting his right-arm all-sorts even at the death. The part-timer finished with figures of 4-0-24-0. It was sign. If he was proving to be unhittable, Axar, Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja would be as well. India’s spin-bowling allrounders had a hand to play in getting them to 171 as well, alongside Hardik Pandya, as they struck three sixes and two fours in the last two overs bowled by Jordan and Archer.

Box office Axar

Guyana is spin-friendly. The schedule, as soon as it was announced, suggested India would play there in the semi-final. They packed their squad with spinners. Three of them found place in the XI. Each of them took turns bowling jaffas.

Axar was the game-changer. He came on immediately after Jos Buttler had whacked Arshdeep Singh for three fours in an over and with his very first ball took out the biggest threat. England’s captain went down to reverse-sweep the left-arm spinner because really in these conditions you couldn’t just sit in and play straight-bat shots. Rohit found the boundary when he took that gamble earlier. Buttler only found a toe-end to Pant.

Each of Axar’s first three overs had a wicket off the first ball. Jonny Bairstow once again choosing to stay leg side and getting bowled, and Moeen Ali’s England career potentially ending with him unsure of where the ball had gone only to realise it was right there in Pant’s hand as he broke the stumps.

Kuldeep’s redemption

England were 49 for 4 when Kuldeep got into the act, bamboozling Sam Curran, and then outsmarting Harry Brook. England were the team that took him down so hard he went off into white-ball wilderness after the 2019 ODI World Cup. Here, against a batter coming after him, and with unconventional shots to boot, he didn’t panic. Kuldeep saw Brook going down to reverse-sweep, so he shifted the line onto leg stump, and left him in a tangle, the flatter trajectory and the quicker pace also playing a part in ball evading the swing of the bat and crashing into the stumps behind.

As further sign of their impending defeat, England’s last recognised batter, Livingstone, was run-out after a mix-up with the lower order. The defending champions yielded their crown, with six of them making single-digit scores and none of them going past 25.