SO NEAR! Only New Zealand stand between India and title defence after Samson’s 89 trumps Bethell’s 105

MUMBAI: India, you can breathe again! After 34 sixes and 499 runs were scored across 40 overs, it all came down to one big hit that England could not produce. Eventually, Suryakumar Yadav’s men evaded the proverbial banana peel at the Wankhede on Thursday night and are now in the final of the T20 World Cup.

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England’s hero was 22-year-old Jacob Bethell, who smashed a 48-ball 105 (8x4; 7x6), his maiden T20I century, to give India a massive scare before the hosts kept their nerve to seal a thrilling seven-run win.

Having become the first defending champions ever to reach the final, Suryakumar Yadav & Co. will now take on New Zealand in the summit clash in Ahmedabad on Sunday night, hoping to become the first team to defend their title and the first host nation to clinch the trophy.




Chasing 254, England were kept in the hunt by Bethell, who added 77 for the fifth wicket in 39 balls with Will Jacks (35; 20b, 4x4, 2x6) and then 50 in 27 balls for the sixth wicket with Sam Curran (18; 14b, 2x4).

However, delivering a masterclass on a pitch which offered nothing but grief for the bowlers, the peerless Jasprit Bumrah (1/33 in 4 overs) conceded 14 runs off his last two overs while Hardik Pandya (2/38 in 4 overs) gave away just nine in the penultimate over of the match, with England needing 39 off the last two.

England had to get 30 to get off the last over but could take away only 22 off Shivam Dube as India heaved a sigh of relief. England finished at 246-7 in 20 overs.


The biggest stars of India’s nerve-jangling win, though, were Axar Patel — who pulled off two stunning catches to send back Harry Brook and Jacks — and Sanju Samson, who continued his fairytale comeback by smashing 89 off just 42 balls (8x4, 7x6) to power the Men in Blue to 253/7.

Axar’s stunning catch running 24 metres from point to send back Brook was a special moment which brought back memories of Kapil Dev’s famous grab of Viv Richards in the final of the 1983 World Cup at Lord’s. Bumrah, too, deserves credit for that wicket for producing a special slower one.

In the 14th over of England’s spirited chase, Axar conjured up magic again. This time, sprinting from deep cover, he lobbed the ball to Shivam Dube before crossing the boundary, Dube caught it comfortably to send back Jacks.

Earlier, apart from Samson’s blazing knock, several power-packed cameos enabled India to have just about enough runs in the bank.

Samson is turning out to be the biggest hero of their campaign, a scenario few would imagine when the batter was going through a lean patch not too long ago. Coming off a match-winning 97-run knock against West Indies in the ‘virtual quarter-final’ in Kolkata, Samson put the English attack to the sword.

Riding on the raw power of Samson and several other impactful contributions, India raced away to the highest-ever score in a knockout match of the T20 World Cup.

England were left to rue a massive mistake from their skipper as Brook dropped Samson when he was on 15, at mid-on off Jofra Archer in the third over. It cost them 74 runs in 36 balls, as Samson was simply unstoppable after that.

With Samson leading the way, Shivam Dube (43, 25b, 1x4, 4x6), Ishan Kishan (39, 18b, 4x4, 2x6), Pandya (27, 12b, 3x4, 2x6) and Tilak Varma (21, 7b, 3x6) went all guns blazing.





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