INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Left-arm spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel took three wickets apiece as India thrashed defending champions England by 68 runs in Guyana
on Thursday to set up a T20 World Cup final against South Africa.England, set a challenging target of 172, slumped to 103 all out inside 17
overs, wrist spinner Kuldeep finishing with figures of 3-19 and the orthodox Patel 3-23.India, bidding for their first major title since the
2013 Champions Trophy, will now play South Africa — also unbeaten at this tournament after a nine-wicket hammering of Afghanistan in their
semi-final — in Saturday&s final in Barbados.The Kensington Oval clash will also be India&s second appearance in successive global
showpiece games after they lost on home soil to Australia in last year&s 50-over World Cup final.&It&s very satisfying to win this game,&
said India skipper Rohit Sharma after his team gained revenge for a humiliating 10-wicket loss to England in the semi-finals of the 2022 T20
World Cup.&We worked really hard as a unit
To win like that was a great effort from everybody.&Rohit laid the foundations by top-scoring with 57 in a total of 171-7 after his side
were somewhat surprisingly sent into bat by England skipper Jos Buttler.It was the opener&s third fifty of the tournament and second in as
many games following his blistering 92 against Australia.& ‘India outplayed us& &India were 40-2 in the powerplay after Virat Kohli (nine)
and Rishabh Pant (four) both fell cheaply.But a third-wicket stand of 73 between Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav (47), spanning a rain delay of
over an hour, turned the tide.Patel, the player of the match, said: &I knew that the wicket was stopping and had something for the
bowlers…Our batters told us the pitch wasn&t easy to hit the ball
We felt it (171) was a good total.&Defeat meant the only Test side that England had beaten at this event were co-hosts the West Indies, with
the title-holders also losing to Australia and South Africa.&India outplayed us, certainly,& said Buttler
&We let them maybe get 20-25 too many (runs) on a challenging surface that they played well on
They fully deserved to win.&They&ve got some fantastic spinners
Our two (Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone) bowled well but in hindsight, probably should&ve bowled Moeen (Ali) in our innings with the way
spin was playing.&But with a good score and their brilliant bowling attack, it was always going to be a tough chase.Buttler launched
England&s reply with a brisk 23
When he attempted to reverse sweep Patel&s first ball, however, he clipped a gentle catch off the toe-end of the bat to wicketkeeper
Pant.Fellow opener Phil Salt was then clean bowled by Jasprit Bumrah&s well-disguised slower ball.England then saw 34-2 become 35-3 when
Patel bowled dangerman Jonny Bairstow for a duck.Moeen was then stumped by Pant and when Sam Curran was lbw to Kuldeep, England were in dire
straits at 49-5 in the ninth over.Wickets continued to tumble and when Livingstone, the last of England&s specialist batsmen, was run out
for 11 after a dreadful mix-up with Jofra Archer, England were all but beaten at 86-8.Archer struck a couple of defiant sixes but Bumrah
ended the match when he had the England paceman lbw for 21 with a low full toss.(AFP)The post India hammer England to book T20 World Cup
final with South Africa first appeared on Ariana News.
