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English cricket commentators and ex-players had raised doubts about the benefits that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) might have gained from the International Cricket Council (ICC). These concerns arose before a dominant India convincingly ended England’s T20 World Cup title defense by defeating them by 68 runs in the second semi-final. India’s victory secured their spot in the final against South Africa.
India, batting first in a rain-affected match at Providence Stadium in Guyana, posted a solid total of 171-7. Captain Rohit Sharma (57) and Suryakumar Yadav (47) were the main contributors on a slow pitch. The 2007 champions then swiftly dismissed England for 103 runs within 17 overs, with spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav causing significant trouble with their turning deliveries.
Former cricketers-turned-pundits Michael Vaughan and David Lloyd had questioned India’s advantage of playing in a semi-final with a pre-determined venue and all their matches scheduled in the morning. Former England captain Nasser Hussain, however, disagreed with their views.
“The narrative will be that everything on Thursday was geared towards India reaching the T20 World Cup final — the surface, the venue, all seemed to be in their favour. But if you look at things in greater detail, they came into this semi-final against England having just beaten 50-over world champions Australia on a bouncier, good pitch in St Lucia, and reverted to a lower, slower pitch and won comfortably. Fair play to them for the way they played and it feels right that India and South Africa, the two unbeaten sides in the tournament, go head to head in Barbados on Saturday,” Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail.
“India’s score was only slightly higher than the 168 they put up in the 2022 semi-final they lost to England at the Adelaide Oval, but the difference in conditions to here in Guyana was chalk and cheese. A combination of seamers keeping the ball low and spinners turning it with no bounce made their 171 for seven a pretty decent score to defend, and Rohit Sharma showed his class by taking one of his favourite shots — the pull — out of the equation to make another half-century,” Hussain added.
