It was a day to remember for India fans as a result of England giving them one of the worst beatings ever in the second semi-final at the World Cup 2022 in Adelaide, on Thursday – a result not only embarrassing their fans, but also disappointing Pakistan fans hoping to see an arch-rivalry final between the teams.
There is no doubt that the Green Shirts are the favourites to win the tournament this year as they beat New Zealand a day earlier to reach this weekend’s final. However, Rohit Sharma and Co’s historic meltdown means that it will be Pakistan versus England in the final.
Fierce confusion and panic
It was a so-so start for India when they batted first, but they went on to post 168, which was clearly less than what they would have liked, but it was still a decent total considering there wasn’t a lot they would have liked along the way. In the end, however, what ensued was absolute carnage and totally unexpected, as Indian bowlers buckled under the weight of expectations, resulting in fierce confusion and panic.
A powerful partnership between Alex Hales (80) and Jos Buttler (86) proved to be too much for India, with both finishing unbeaten and handing India a 10-wicket defeat at the hands of England.
The earlier opener, Hardik Pandya, had a phenomenal score of 63 off 33 balls, which helped India to make 168-6 against England.
A 50-run innings by Kohli was his fourth half-century in the tournament, and he also forged key partnerships, including a 61-run partnership with Pandya, who tore into the opposition attack in the last two overs by targeting their weaknesses.
There was discipline amongst the England bowlers with Chris Jordan picking three wickets during the match but Pandya broke loose with a flurry of boundaries and smashed left-arm quick Sam Curran for 20 runs in the 19th over.
First semi-final of World Cup
On Sunday, the winner of the election will face Pakistan in the final of the event at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, after they defeated New Zealand in the first semi-final.
As a result, England had to make two forced changes after Dawid Malan and Mark Wood both lost their places because of injuries. India invited to bat, and KL Rahul began by hitting Ben Stokes for a boundary off his first delivery.
Rahul caught behind off a rising delivery, which delivered by sea pitcher Chris Woakes, for a five-wicket performance.
The skipper Rohit Sharma hit four boundaries after a scratchy start as he attempted to rebuild the innings with Kohli, but Jordan, who was in the side for Wood, finally broke through in his first over as the team began to surrender.
As the score reached 57, Jordan and Sharma mistimed a wide long-on and the score reached 62-2 after 10 overs. At that point, two-thirds of the partnership completed when Sharma mistimed a wide long-on.
T20 internationals with a boundary
After smashing a six and four off Stokes, Suryakumar Yadav bowled out by Adil Rashid, who bowled a leg-spin for 14. In the fifteen overs that India were given, Kohli passed the 4,000 run milestone in T20 internationals with a boundary off Liam Livingstone that led the team to 100-3 in their total.
Having reached 50 off 39 balls, Kohli leads the tournament batting chart with 296 runs. However, he instantly dismissed after falling to Rashid’s sharp catch at short third man when Jordan delivered his next delivery.
In the prime time of his innings, Pandya was slamming four fours and five sixes before he treated on his stumps, and what followed was him being out by a direct hit from Jordan’s final ball.
With four wins in five matches in Group 2, India are searching for their first global title since the 2013 Champion Trophy triumph as they look for their first global title since the 2013 season. They won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 and went on to win the subsequent two World Cups.
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