.png)
4 hours ago
1
England, India and the Wankhede Stadium ground staff conjured a ludicrous, blockbuster semi-final, but for the English in the end it was a bust, a night when records fell, and they eventually went with them.
Only three times in their history have they scored more than the 246 they got on Thursday, but still it was not enough. Never before have so many runs been scored in a T20 World Cup match, nor as many sixes (34), nor more sixes in an innings than India’s 19. Neither England nor India had ever conceded as many runs in any T20 anywhere as they did here. It was dizzying stuff, ending in appropriate style with Jofra Archer scoring sixes off the last three legal deliveries to trim the winning margin to just seven runs. So India march on to the final, with only New Zealand in Sunday’s final standing between them and a third T20 World Cup title.
But even in defeat England emerge in huge credit. On the eve of the game Harry Brook described his team as one that is “never quite out of the game” and remarkably, even after haemorrhaging 253 runs, they managed to stay in the contest until the final moments. They kept pace with India’s run-scoring with uncanny accuracy: one run ahead after the powerplay, identical totals after 10 overs, again after 12 and 13; ahead after 15, 16, and 17.
It was glorious chaos, in the midst of which Jacob Bethell scored a wonderful century to keep his side in it, the left-hander eventually run out after scoring 105 off 48. But India had scored 48 off their last three overs, and it was at this point in England’s innings, almost in sight of the summit, that Brook’s side finally lost their foothold. They added just six to their total when Jasprit Bumrah bowled the 18th over and that was pretty much that.
England’s bowling had been simply pulverised, to the extent that the list of the Englishmen who have conceded the most runs in a T20 World Cup match now features Archer at the top and Sam Curran at No 3. How Archer must hate this ground, now the site of three of his four most expensive England performances and fully half of his worst eight – and he has only played here four times.
Obviously, it was not only Archer who was suffering. Having identified this as a ground more friendly to seam than Colombo England, as expected, brought back Jamie Overton in place of Rehan Ahmed and their duly expanded three-man pace lineup bowled 11 overs and conceded 150 runs. It took until their penultimate delivery for them to get any reward, with Archer’s dismissal of a briefly rampant Tilak Varma.
England had talked of silencing the crowd and though they did so it was extremely brief. As Sanju Samson miscued the ball straight to mid-on in the third over, his opening partner, Abhishek Sharma, already dismissed, the Wankhede did indeed fall quiet. And then it exploded, as the ball squirmed inexplicably out of Brook’s grasp and dropped on to the turf.
Given how close they ultimately came England’s captain will not be alone in torturing himself with thoughts that this, in the end, might have been decisive. Samson, playing with the confidence of someone who had scored a matchwinning, unbeaten 97 in his previous game, had already scored 15 off six balls before the drop and was eventually dismissed for 89 off 42.
India’s innings turned into a trial for England’s captain, a series of multiple choice questions for which none of the available answers was correct. He rotated through his bowlers, hunting for the one who might stem the flow of runs. His bowlers in turn rotated through their variations, seeking something that might befuddle the batters, with only rare and fleeting reward.
India screamed to 67 for one by the end of a powerplay that featured as many fours and sixes as dots (13) and at that point, just as it became theoretically harder to score, they accelerated. Of the seven Indians to face more than two deliveries three scored at more than two runs a ball, and another went at three.
England emerged needing just under 13 an over. They had never faced scoreboard pressure like this and it came in combination with the burdens of a massive occasion, the similarly daunting reputation of their opponents, and the deafening and hugely one-sided crowd that roared the home side on.
Many would have crumbled and perhaps a few did. Phil Salt failed again, lasting only three balls. The suggestion that Jos Buttler has spent the entire tournament just one sweet strike away from clicking into gear was tested as he produced several of them, mistimed several more, and was bowled by Varun Chakravarthy after completely missing with a wild swing to finish with 25 off 17. Brook lasted only six balls before he fell to an excellent catch by Axar Patel.
Later, Patel inspired a brilliant relay catch to dismiss Will Jacks, sprinting to his left, collecting the ball and tossing it to Shivam Dube before he careened over the rope. As Brook later observed, “catches win matches” and Patel’s athleticism, as well as Brook’s own drop, probably decided this one. It was not to be England’s night, but it was hellishly close.
