After defeating England by 68 runs in the second semifinal at Providence Stadium, India advanced to the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup final behind captain Rohit Sharma’s 39-ball fifty-score. Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel each claimed three wickets.

Rohit skillfully combined risk-taking with prudence to smash six fours and two sixes in his crucial innings on a challenging wicket with a slow speed and low bounce. He also had a 73-run partnership with Suryakumar Yadav, who smashed 47 off 36 balls.

After being sent into bat first, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel scored clutch runs at the tail end to enable India record a challenging 171/7. In response, England collapsed to 103, all thanks to bowling bursts of brilliance from Axar and Kuldeep.

India will now play South Africa in the championship match at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday after their decisive victory. In addition, a team that has never lost will be the winner of the Men’s T20 World Cup for the first time ever.

Following a 75-minute break due to rain, Rohit started with two erratic boundaries, and Virat Kohli looked good when he stroked a six off Reece Topley. However, Kohli saw his bails shaken as he attempted to smash Topley past the line, unable to account for the length ball that was shaping back in.

Even if his strokes were not timed perfectly, Rohit was still able to pull off a four off Topley and then remain leg-side to drive the pacer for another boundary in a brilliant manner. However, Rishabh Pant was dismissed by England after he hit a clean flick to mid-wicket off Sam Curran. The Power-play finished with India at 46/2 as Suryakumar opened his account with a straight drive past Curran for four.

In response to Rashid, Rohit produced two boundaries with a reverse sweep and a conventional sweep. Then, Suryakumar went down on one knee to drive a slower ball from Jordan over long-leg for six. The rain started to fall fiercely just before the ninth over started, forcing everyone to leave the field for 75 minutes.

Following the restart, Suryakumar swept Rashid for four before Rohit blasted Livingstone with a huge six over long-on. 19 runs came off the 13th over, as Rohit reached his fifty in 36 balls by sweeping Curran for six. Meanwhile, Suryakumar lofted inside-out and pulled to grab two boundaries off him.

After that, England recovered as Rashid’s googly remained low and overcame Rohit’s heave to castle him for fifty-seven runs. In the sixteenth over, Archer made a good comeback when Suryakumar skied a slower ball off his hand and onto long-on. After cutting Archer for four, Pandya blasted Jordan for two consecutive sixes.

However, Pandya’s slower delivery to long-off and Shivam Dube’s golden duck to score a double strike in the eighteenth over gave the bowler the last laugh. After Patel took Jordan for six after Jadeja hit two boundaries from Archer, India reached the 170-run threshold.

Jos Buttler gave England a great start in their chase of 172 by hitting four boundaries, three of which came from Arshdeep, with 26 runs coming from the opening three overs. However, Axar teamed up with Jasprit Bumrah to leave England in ruins. Buttler attempted a reverse sweep on Axar’s first ball, but he gave keeper Rishabh Pant a top edge.

England finished the Power-play at 39/3 as Bumrah disrupted Phil Salt’s leg-stump with his off-cutter. Axar then managed to remain low and hit Jonny Bairstow’s off-stump, dismissing him for a duck.

Moeen Ali attempted to flick off Axar, but the ball bounced off his thigh pad, making matters worse for England. Pant immediately gathered the ball and stumped Ali as he was walking out of the wicket.

By capturing Sam Curran plumb lbw in front of the middle stump, ratting a reverse-sweeping Harry Brook’s leg-stump, and getting one to spin back in to snare Chris Jordan lbw, Kuldeep put England even more on the back foot.

Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid were run outs as a consequence of confusion, and when Bumrah caught Jofra Archer leg before wicket, it set off joyous celebrations in Guyana 2024, where the aspiration to capture the coveted title remained intact for a dominant India.

Brief scores: India defeated England 103 in 16.4 overs (Harry Brook 25; Kuldeep Yadav 3-19, Axar Patel 3-23) by 68 runs with 171/7 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 57, Suryakumar Yadav 47; Chris Jordan 3-37, Adil Rashid 1-25)