ICC Men’s T20 World Cup: India manage 171/7 in rain interrupted semifinal against England

Georgetown: Heavy rain has stopped play twice in the second semi-final of the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup at the Providence Stadium on Thursday, with captain Rohit Sharma’s 57 off 39 balls taking India to 171/7 in 20 overs against England. 

On a pitch with slow pace and low bounce, India lost Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant inside the Power-play. But Rohit has managed to keep India afloat, with Suryakumar Yadav giving him company after the 2007 winners were inserted in to bat first, post a delay of an hour and 15 minutes due to rain.

With England getting a hint of movement from the cloud cover, they managed to nail their lengths well, targeting the stumps mostly. Rohit Sharma got two streaky boundaries, while Kohli was convincing in his flicked six off Reece Topley. But in a bid to heave Topley across the line, Kohli didn’t account for the length ball shaping back in and saw his bails being rattled.

Despite Rohit not getting the desired timing on his shots, the India captain managed to pull Topley for four and then stayed leg-side to drive the pacer stylishly for another boundary.

But England took out Pant, as he flicked straight to mid-wicket off Sam Curran. Suryakumar opened his account with a straight drive past Curran for four, as India ended the Power-play at 46/2.

Rohit welcomed Adil Rashid with a reverse sweep and the conventional sweep fetching him two boundaries, followed by Suryakumar getting down on one knee to heave a slower ball from Chris Jordan over long-leg for six. Just before the ninth over began, rain began to pour heavily and forced everyone to get off the field.

When the play resumed, Rohit completed his second half-century in this edition. He went back in the 14th over after adding 73 runs with Suryakumar. Suryakumar also went back two overs later after scoring 47 runs from 36 balls. Later Hardik Pandya hit two flat sixes to take the score card moving. Chris Jordan claimed Pandya (23) and Shivam Dube in consecutive balls. Finally they managed 171 runs in allotted overs with the help of Ravindra Jadeja’s unbeaten 17. Jordan took 3 wickets for 37 runs.

During his innings, India skipper Rohit Sharma broke the record for the most fours hit by a batter in T20 World Cup history. Rohit went past former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene’s tally of 111 fours in the T20 World Cup to register the record.

Brief scores: India 171/7 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 57, Suryakumar Yadav 46, Chris Jordan 3/37, Sam Curran 1-25). Agencies

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