It’s been 11 years since India finished on the podium as champions. They are on the brink of breaking the deadlock for the second time in seven months, and all that separates them from lifting the ICC men’s T20 World Cup title is a few hours’ time and an unbeaten South African team.
One thing that’s common between both the Indian teams — one that last won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the current one under Rohit Sharma vying for the T20 World Cup, is the “calmness” under pressure that the team exhibited perfectly during Thursday’s 68-run comprehensive win against defending champions England in the second semifinal in Guyana.
“We’ve been very calm as a team. We do understand the occasion (of a final), but for us, it’s important to keep calm and composed. That helps us make good decisions. We need to make good decisions through the 40 overs. In this game too, we were steady and calm, and didn’t panic too much. That has been the key for us. Yes, we do understand the occasion is important, but we need to play good cricket as well,” skipper Rohit Sharma said after the game.
Rohit claimed that the victory was “very satisfying”, considering the fact that Thursday’s match was a rematch of the T20 World Cup 2022 semi final played in Adelaide, where India were knocked out after enduring a 10-wicket hammering from Jos Buttler & Co.
But in Guyana, India’s spinners — Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja — emerged the real match-winners on a slow, low turner where Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav had revelled after India were sent in to bat after a rain-delayed toss.
“Yeah, it’s very satisfying to win this game. We’ve worked really hard to come to this stage, and to win the game like that was a great effort from everyone. I thought we played to the conditions really well; that’s been the success story for us so far. If bowlers and batters understand and play according to the conditions, things fall in place. It’s very pleasing how we came through,” he analysed.
The conditions were challenging for batters, but for Rohit, even the rain interruption after eight overs of India’s innings, mattered little as he hit top gear slamming a belligerent 57 off 39 balls and received great support from SKY, who came up with a 36-ball 47 to set the tone with a 73-run third wicket partnership to give India a chance to aim for a competitive score. Hardik Pandya (23 off 13), Jadeja (17 not out off 9) and Axar (10 off 6) came up with handy cameos to propel India to 171 for 7, a score Rohit believed was above par.
”At one stage, we were feeling 140-150 was a good score as the game went on. Then we got some runs in the middle, me and Surya got that partnership, and then we said, ‘Okay another 25 more’. I can set a target in my mind but I don’t want to let anyone know about it. They’re all instinctive players, so I want them to go out and play freely without thinking about the par score. We know when we understand the conditions well, we will get to a good score; (and) that’s what happened, and the bowlers were fantastic,” the captain said.
Hailing his gun spinners, Rohit was happy to see all his slow men execute their plans to perfection. Axar started England’s slide by dismissing Buttler (23) off his very first delivery in the fourth over, and then had Jonny Bairstow for a golden duck with an arm-ball in his second before foxing Moeen Ali (8) off his legs to finish with impressive figures of 3 for 23 off his four overs to walk away with the Player-of-the-Match award.
Axar received great support from left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep, who also came up with a three-wicket burst that included the scalps of England’s top scorer Harry Brook (25), Sam Curran and Chris Jordan. The third left-arm spinner in the team – Jadeja – went wicketless but despite that kept things tight and went for only 16 runs off his three overs.
“They are gun spinners. When conditions are like that in front of them, it’s very difficult to play some shots. Yes, the pressure is on them to execute those balls, but they were very calm and knew what to bowl. We had a chat after the first innings: the plan was to hit the stumps as much as possible and keep the stumps in play, (and) that’s what they did,” Rohit said.
Rohit also extended his support for opening partner Virat Kohli, who has hit a lean patch during the tournament, aggregating mere 75 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 100. Kohli was dismissed for 9 on Thursday, but Rohit felt he showed his intent and could be saving his best for the final. Head coach Rahul Dravid also appeared to be on the same page with Rohit on Kohli’s form.
“Look, he’s a quality player, and you can go through that. We understand his class and importance in big games. Form is never a matter for a player when you’ve played for 15 years. He’s looking good, the intent is there, (and) probably he’s saving himself for the final,” Rohit commented.
Dravid also backed Kohli saying he was loving the “intent” and “attitude” the veteran batter was showing.
“You know with Virat, the thing is, when you play a slightly high-risk brand of cricket there can be times when it doesn’t come off. Even today, I thought he hit a really good six to set the tempo but he was just unlucky that the ball seamed a little bit more. But I love the intent, I love the way he went about doing it. It sets a good example for the group as well if he’s willing to do it. And you know, for some reason, I don’t want to jinx it but I think there’s a big one coming up. I’m just loving his attitude and that he’s committing himself on the field – I think he deserves it,” Dravid said.