It was a scene witnessed on countless Test tours to the subcontinent but one played out in the semi-final of the men’s T20 World Cup in tropical Guyana. England were spun out in dramatic fashion for a crushing 68-run defeat that saw India book a date with South Africa in Saturday’s final at Kensington Oval.
As India amassed 171 for seven either side of an 80 minute break for rain it became apparent that the slow, low surface at Providence Stadium would make any chase tough going. The target was three runs more than the one vaporised by England in that one-sided semi-final in 2022 but Adelaide this was very much not.
And so it proved. The defending champions have become the former champions and are now heading for the next transatlantic flight home rather than the short hop back to Barbados, bowled out for 103 in 16.4 overs – the standard length of an innings in the Hundred – through a beguiling performance from India’s spinners. And all after Jos Buttler won his sixth toss in eight and opted to bowl.
Rohit Sharma wanted to bat first anyway and it did not sound like bravado at the time. Instead the Indian captain’s reading of conditions was simply superior. Striking 57 from 39 balls to help set up the total, Sharma then looked with delight as Axar Patel, three for 23, and Kuldeep Yadav, three for 19, feasted on scrambled English minds.
Jasprit Bumrah, needless to say, had an input here, the world’s premier T20 fast bowler mugging Phil Salt for five with a slower ball and delivering the coup de grace when he pinned last man Jofra Archer lbw with a yorker. But it was all about the spin twins on the day, Patel named player of the match for his part in a famous derailment.
Truly, it was chaos out there, the critical collapse of five for 23 triggered when Buttler went to reverse sweep Patel first ball on 23 and sent a catch looping behind. Jonny Bairstow was soon bowled for duck attempting to drive a skiddy delivery from the left-armer, while the promoted Moeen Ali overbalanced for a sorry stumping.
To watch Kuldeep follow this up with three of his own was to be transported back to Dharamshala earlier this year, when his left-arm wrist-spin wizardry with the red ball set up a 3-1 series win over the Bazballers. Here Kuldeep pinned Sam Curran lbw with the wrong ‘un, ended a defiant 25 Harry Brook by bowling him round his legs and snuffed out all English hope when trapping Chris Jordan plumb in front.
This being an English collapse there were two run outs thrown into the mix, Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid both short of their ground. But it was all about their shortcomings against high quality spin and, at the end of a campaign that saw Buttler’s side lose three of their four games against full member sides, the manner of the defeat will inevitably trigger an internal review.
Things had appeared pretty much honours even when the first shower intruded with India on 65 for two. Reece Topley had pegged back Virat Kohli’s leg stump for nine after a whipped six was followed by the left-armer pulling back his length shrewdly, while Curran’s second ball forced Rishabh Pant to chip to catching mid-wicket.
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But Sharma was at the other end setting the platform for his side in a stand of 73 from 50 balls alongside the typically flamboyant Suryakumar Yadav. Though not always fluent – the ball plugging when he cleared the infield earlier – there were dashes of Sharma’s typical brilliance, successive sweeps off Rashid’s first over – reverse and then orthodox – before a couple of booming sixes late on.
Things might have been different had Salt not grasped at fresh air when Sharma sliced Archer through backward point in the second over of the innings. Instead it took a googly to prise out the Indian captain in the 14th over, Rashid getting the ball to skid under a slog sweep and crash into the stumps amid figures of one for 25.
With Livingstone’s cocktail of leggies and off-breaks leaking just two boundaries amid four overs for 24 runs from the other end, and Archer following Rashid’s breakthrough by forcing Yadav to hole out on 47 with a back of the hand slower ball, India were 124 for four in the 16th over and England seemingly had an in.
But despite three wickets for Jordan at the death, including two in two balls as Shivam Dube nicked off tentatively for a golden duck, India pushed themselves a nudge above par through Hardik Pandya’s 13-ball 23 and Patel clearing the rope in the final over. That six heaved off Jordan over wide long on felt a telling moment but it turned out Patel was simply warming up for an even greater say.
