Ben Duckett was a bit cheeky when he suggested India’s Test team had been inspired by Bazball earlier in the year. But in the second semi-final of the men’s T20 World Cup on Thursday, at Providence Stadium, Guyana, England’s white-ballers meet a side they influenced – or at least jolted into life – two years ago.
Much like the rollercoaster this time around, England had scraped their way into the knockouts in 2022 before delivering a thumping 10-wicket victory over India in Adelaide. “We were unbelievable with the bat,” said Moeen Ali as the defending champions jetted off to Georgetown on Tuesday, recalling the day Jos Buttler and Alex Hales vaporised a target of 169 with a staggering four overs to spare.
But as Moeen went on to point out, passport in hand, it was a game in which England chiefly set things up with the ball, squeezing their opponents for a sub-par 168 for six. Rohit Sharma was seen as emblematic of India’s dated approach at the time, the captain labouring to 27 in 28 balls in a powerplay of just 38 runs, before – as tradition dictates – bemoaning the efforts of his bowlers for failing to halt England’s bugle charge.
Since then, however, India’s outlook under Sharma and Rahul Dravid, their soon-to-be-departing head coach, appears to have changed with a more concerted collective effort to put a lower price on their wickets and up the aggression. Sharma certainly went this way in the 50-over World Cup last winter before India’s heartbreak at the hands of Australia in the final, when he took it upon himself to treat the new ball with utter disdain.
India started this T20 World Cup on Long Island’s lottery of a drop-in pitch but overall, in their unbeaten run, an increased selflessness has remained. Virat Kohli is among those to buy in, even if the his scores have been low thus far, while Suryakumar Yadav never needed to be told. Overall, it was summed up by the Super Eight victory over Bangladesh in Antigua when 196 for five was racked up batting first with just one half-century – Hardik Pandya’s unbeaten 50 from 27 balls – and four scores between 23 and 37. Ravichandran Ashwin, not in the squad, was impressed from afar.
“We are not used to an approach where batsmen throw it away after making 30s, 20s,” said the veteran off-spinner on his X account. “But it is about time we embrace an approach like this, especially while batting first. Top intent from all the Indian batters so far.”
Ashwin was at it again after India’s demolition job on Australia in St Lucia on Monday, hailing Sharma for “walking the talk” when, just 11.2 overs into the contest and partying like he was at Gros Islet’s famous Jump Up, he fell for 92 from 41 balls. “Milestones don’t matter any more and that’s the takeaway,” wrote Ashwin. Even taken in isolation, Sharma’s volcanic eruption of form in that knock – eight booming sixes and Mitchell Starc’s most expensive over (29 runs) in international cricket – was ominous.
“He’s a world-class player – one of the best players in the world,” said Moeen, never afraid to talk up an opponent before a game. “You sometimes just hope they get out in T20s. That’s the thing in cricket, especially T20 cricket – it’s not always guaranteed runs, no matter how good you’re playing. And they’ve got other players as well.”
Even after seam marginally held sway on the American mainland during the group stage – a statistic inflated by some of the mismatches – England expect spinners to come to the fore on Thursday. India, knowing they would play their semi-final at Providence Stadium when they picked the squad, have an abundance; three star twirlers in their XI against Australia – Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja – and a fourth, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, ready join in should conditions look really conducive.
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But India’s cheat code so far has been Jasprit Bumrah, who in their first six games has bullwhipped his way to more wickets (11) than he has conceded boundaries (nine). It is a pretty remarkable statistic from a truly remarkable fast bowler, one whose economy of 4.08 has practically reduced India’s matches to 20 overs for their batters, 16 for their opponents. Travis Head is the only batter to get hold off Bumrah with three fours in four balls but even then, revenge was served with an ice-cold slower ball.
Added to all this is that sense of unfinished business after the gut punch in Ahmedabad last November; the night that Pat Cummins and co ruined the intended launch of Narendra Modi’s election campaign. Jay Shah, secretary of India’s board, even promised back in February that Sharma’s side would atone come this tournament, saying “Hum Bharat ka jhanda gadenge” (“We will hoist India’s flag”) to an audience of assembled acolytes.
Shah’s pledge came the night before the third Test in Rajkot, the match where Duckett made the much memed remark about Bazball. Four months on, England’s T20 side are about to discover whether in fact they were the ones who created a monster.