Virat’s poor form, rain threat: Major talking points ahead of Ind-Eng T20 WC semifinal clash

PROVIDENCE (Guyana): It will be a battle of T20I titans as the Men in Blue will be taking on England in the semifinals of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Guyana on Thursday. Jos Buttler-led England will be aiming for a second successive T20 World Cup final while the Men in Blue will be seeking to avenge a brutal 10-wicket loss to the same opponent in the final four clash of 2022 tournament at Adelaide.

Since that heartbreaking loss at Adelaide, the Men in Blue have made a lot of changes to their white ball game, introducing a pleothra of young and more explosive talent like Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, etc leading upto the tournament.

Though the Men in Blue decided to revert to experienced campaigners skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after an incredible, record-shattering 50-over World Cup in India, the explosiveness and risk-taking defining the modern T20 cricket still form the heart of India’s approach, as witnessed by the performances of these two legends in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, especially Virat, who turned into a six-hitting, spin-demolishing machine of the older days, abandoning his more conservative and measured approach to the short format.

However, Virat has failed to translate his IPL form into an international arena, scoring just 66 runs in six games at an average of 11.00, with the best score of 37 and two ducks. Having scored the most runs in T20 Cup history, this campaign has put somewhat of a dent on his legacy as the best batter ever to grace the tournament.

All would be forgiven, however, if Virat returned to his clutch ways in knockouts. Notably, Virat has smacked a half-century in every T20 World Cup knockout game, including 72* (2014 semifinal), 77 (2014 final), 89* (2016 semifinal) and 50 (2022 semifinal).

Despite this poor run, England coach Matthew Mott is not taking Virat lightly. In the pre-match presser, he said about the star batter, “Virat has proven his class over a very long period of time and he is one of the players we have prepared well for. We know how he can play; we know how destructive he can be and we also know his game smarts. If the game demands an innings of a different nature, he has got that skill”.

On the other hand, skipper Rohit Sharma has shown much better form. In six matches of the tournament so far, Rohit has scored 191 runs at an average of 38.20, with a strike rate of 159.16 and two half-centuries. His best score is 92.

The semifinal will be a battle of two high-octane opening pairs, India’s ‘Ro-Ko’ pair against England’s Buttler (191 runs in six innings) and Phil Salt (183 runs in six innings). This pair has managed to put up 286 runs together in six innings this tournament at an average of 57.20, with their best partnership being a 117-run effort.

Salt himself has been in fantastic form ever since he posted two successive centuries against the West Indies in a T20I series last year, having a fantastic IPL campaign for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), scoring 435 runs in 12 games, including four fifties for the champions.

In the last 12 T20Is, Salt has scored 507 runs in 11 innings at an average of 63.37 and a strike rate of over 182, with two tonnes and fifty. His best score is 119. The batter averages 52.2 and strikes at 180 in the West Indies, where he has gotten two centuries and two fifties in 14 innings with 574 runs.

England will be in battle against two of the best pacers of this tournament, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh. In six matches, Bumrah has taken 11 wickets so far in the tournament at an average of 8.54 and an economy rate of just above 4. His best bowling figures are 3/7.

Arshdeep is the second-highest wicket-taker, with 15 scalps in six games at an average of 11.86 and best figures of 4/9. How Salt and Buttler survive their onslaught in powerplay will be crucial in deciding the course of the match.

The Men in Blue, on the other hand, have everything going right for them, except Virat’s form maybe. Undefeated, they have registered comprehensive wins while chasing and defending alike and their campaign has been an incredible team effort.

However, the pressure of playing in knockouts becomes a different kind of beast for India, who have fallen inches short of an ICC trophy nearly every year after a semifinal/final qualification. Rohit attributes India’s recent knockout performances both to fear of failure and bad luck.

“It is a bit of both. See, we want to treat this game as another game that we have played in this tournament. We don’t want to think about what lies ahead, what the context of the game is, and all of that. Everyone knows in the back of their minds that it is a semi-final. But you don’t want to keep talking about it again and again and again. And not to think about what has happened in the past. I think we, all of us, the entire group, are in a good frame of mind. We are playing well as a team, enjoying each other’s company and each other’s success at times as well. I think it’s important to just carry on that, carry on from what we have been doing in this tournament,” the India captain said in the pre-match press conference.

Though the clash looks extremely promising, a rain threat looms over this 2022 T20 World Cup rematch. As per World Weather, it is currently partly cloudy and 24 degrees Celsius in Georgetown, Guyana. At 9 am local time, before the 10.30 am start, light and patchy rain is likely to occur in Guyana. Light rains are forecast for every hour till 4 pm, after which the weather will remain partly cloudy for the remainder of the day.

India has been allocated the Guyana semifinal due to match timings, as the 10.30 am local time slot, as per Indian Standard Time, is a much more TV-friendly slot of 8 pm. The final, to be held in Bridgetown, Barbados, on June 29, will take place at 10 am local time, and happen at 7.30 pm in India, as per ESPNCricinfo.

There will be no reserve day for the second semifinal. However, an extra 250 minutes worth of time will be given to the match. This extra time has been added since the tournament schedule does not allow for a reserve day. If reserve day was given for semifinal two, it would have meant just a day’s worth of gap for recovery and practice between that game and the final.

The second semifinal could be in for a tight squeeze if persistent rain takes place because, as per rules, a result can only be decided if both teams bat for at least 10 overs. In the majority of T20 games, the teams batting second are supposed to bat for at least five overs in order to achieve a result.

This system was in place for the majority of the ICC T20 World Cup matches. But in the knockout games though, teams batting second will have to face at least 10 overs in order to decide on a result as per the Duckworth-Lewis method. This was also the case for the knockout games in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.

As per an ICC spokesperson, overs will be reduced only from 2.40 pm, which is 250 minutes after the scheduled start of 10.30 am. For a 10-over match, the game will have to start at 4.14 pm local time, the spokesperson added, as per ESPNCricinfo.

If the game is not completed and is washed out due to rain, Men in Blue will move to the finals due to them topping the Super Eights group, as compared to England’s second-place finish in Group two. (ANI)