England given target of 172 by India in T20 World Cup semifinal
Rohit Sharma hit a quick half-century and Suryakumar Yadav scored a brisk 47 to help India post 171-7 in 20 overs against England in the second semifinal of the ongoing T20 World Cup in Providence.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma compiled a technically brilliant innings of 57 from 39 balls to lead his team to a highly competitive total of 171-7 after being asked to bat first in their rain-delayed second T20 World Cup semifinal against England at the Providence Stadium in Georgetown, Guyana, on Thursday.
Rohit began explosively, quickly reassessed the conditions and proceeded at a more tempered pace hitting six fours and two sixes before a delivery from legspinner Adil Rashid kept impossibly low to bowl him in the 14th over.
Suryakumar Yadav was no less skillful during an innings of 47 from 36 balls with four fours and two sixes before miscuing a slower ball from Jofra Archer (4-0-33-1) to long on while Hardik Pandya's bright cameo of 23 from 13 balls with two sixes ended in similar fashion with a slower ball from Chris Jordan (3-0-37-3) heaved to long off.
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Ravindra Jadeja was unbeaten at the end with two boundaries in his unbeaten 17 from nine balls to ensure the tournament favourites were well placed at the close of the innings.
Earlier, Virat Kohli (9) was bowled by Reece Topley while Rishabh Pant (4) whipped a length delivery from Sam Curran to Jonny Bairstow at mid wicket to leave innings on 40-2 inside the Power Play before rain intervened with India on 65-2 after eight overs.
Both teams were unchanged from their previous games in which India beat Australia by 24 runs and England walloped the USA by 10 wickets.
The outfield was saturated just two hours before the scheduled start at 4:30pm (SA time) but, in a region all-too familiar with heavy rainfall at this time of year, the ground staff are well practised in coping with wet weather conditions and locals are confident that there will be sufficient dry time between showers to complete a match.
There is no reserve day for the match although playing conditions for this fixture only do allow for an unprecedented 250 minutes of extra time meaning that a 10-over match could start as late as 10:10pm.
South Africa beat Afghanistan by nine wickets in the first semifinal on Thursday morning having bowled Afghanistan out for just 56 in 11.5 overs and reaching 60-1 in 8.5 overs.
The final will be played in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday beginning at 4:30pm SA time.
