The strength of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav matched the elegance of India captain Rohit Sharma as they conjured the ghosts of 2022 by beating reigning champions England by 68 runs to get to the T20 World Cup final here on Thursday.

Thus, in the course of a single year, Rohit became the first Indian captain to captain his nation in three separate ICC global finals: the 2023 World Test Championship, the 2023 ODI World Cup, and now the T20 World Cup.

On a wicket where the ball was often maintained low, the Indian captain, who has usually come under fire for not scoring on big days, made a crucial contribution of 57 off 39 balls as his team reached 171/7 in 20 overs.

Along with Hardik Pandya for his two massive sixes in a 13-ball-23, and Suryakumar Yadav for his 47 off 36 balls, credit should also go to them. Axar Patel (10) and Ravindra Jadeja (17) both made helpful contributions.

In response, England was all out for 103 in 16.4 overs after losing five wickets at the halfway point.

With the ball, Axar (3/23 in 4 overs) and Kuldeep Yadav (3/19 in 4 overs) split the spoils. Defying all expectations, Jasprit Bumrah (2/12 in 2.4 overs) finished his career with a traditional slow off-cutter that removed the dangerous Phil Salt.

South Africa and the 2007 winners will square off in the Barbados final on Saturday. England had held India to an identical score in the semi-final in Adelaide in 2022, but India lost by 10 wickets. However, batting was challenging due to Providence Stadium’s circumstances. — PTI

A scoreboard

India

Rashid, R. Sharma, 57

V Kohli b Topley 9.

R Pant b Curran c Bairstow 4

S Yadav b Archer 47 c Jordan

Jordan 23 c Curran b H Pandya

R. Jadeja is still alive.

Jordan 0 S Dube c Buttler b

A Patel b Jordan 10 c Salt

Not out, A Singh

Bonus: (w 1, lb 2) 3

20 overs, 7 wickets, 171 total

First of all, 1-19, 2-40, 3-113, 4-124, 5-146, 6-146, and 7-170

O M R W bowling

Topley Reece 3 0 25 1

Archer Jofra 4 0 33 1

Sam Curran 2 0 25 1

Rashid Adil 4 0 25 1

Chris Jordan 3 0 37 3

Livingstone, Liam 4 0 24 0

England

P Bumrah 5; Salt b

Patel 23 J Buttler c Pant b

Pant, B. Patel, M. Ali St.

J. Bairstow b. Patel 0

H Brook by B Yadav 25

S Curran b Yadav 2 lbw

L Livingstone (Yadav) run out 11

C Jordan b Yadav 1 lbw

Bumrah 21 lbw J Archer

Yadav’s Rashid runout

R. Topley is not out three.

Bonuses: (lb 2) 2

Total: (16.4 overs, all out) 103

1-26, 2-34, 3-35, 4-46, 5-49, 6-68, 7-72, 8-86, and 9-88 are the FOW.

O M R W bowling

Singh Arshdeep 2 0 17 0

Bumrah Jasprit 2.4 0 12 2

Axar Patel 4 0 23 3

Yadav Kuldeep 4 0 19 3

Jadeja Ravindra 3 0 16 0

Pandya Hardik 1 0 14 0

Axar Patel was the match’s MVP.