Jacob Bethell’s knock of 105 off 48 balls went in vain as India defeated England by seven runs to set up a T20 World Cup final against New Zealand on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium. In the end, in a run-heavy game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, where almost 500 runs were scored, England’s chase of 254 fell short by just seven.
The chase came down to the final over, where England needed to chase down 30 runs, after some death overs heroics from Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. After a 16-run over from Arshdeep Singh, England needed just 45 runs to win from the final three overs. Then Bumrah bowled the 18th over giving away just six runs and was followed by Pandya, whose 19th over yielded just nine runs despite the first ball being hit for a six. In the final over, Shivam Dube gave 22 runs, but thanks to the efforts of Bumrah and Pandya in the previous overs, India managed to secure victory.
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Earlier, batting first, India had managed to smash their way to 253/7 with most of the Indian batting scoring at a strike rate of around 200. Carrying on from his heroics against the West Indies, Sanju Samson smashed a 42-ball 89 and combined with Shivam Dube (25-ball 43) and Ishan Kishan (18-ball 39) to propel India past the 250-run mark.
Samson was dropped at mid-on by England captain Harry Brook when the India opener was batting on 15. And he punished the England team for the miss.
In contrast, the Indian side fielded like a charm. The highlight of India’s efforts on the field was a relay catch of Will Jacks, where India vice captain Axar Patel assisted in a catch that will be remembered for years to come. Axar ran a long distance before catching the ball, then realised that he was getting off balance and would fall over the boundary ropes, so he threw the ball to Shivam Dube, who took the easiest catch of his life.
