Kohli’s poor form, rain threat in focus ahead of IND Vs ENG semifinal clash

There will be no reserve day for the second semifinal. However, an extra 250 minutes worth of time will be given to the match

Providence: It will be a battle of T20I titans as Men in Blue will be taking on England in the semifinals of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Guyana on Thursday, which will witness Jos Buttler-led England aim for second successive T20 WC final while Men in Blue will be aiming 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.

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Though Men in Blue decided to revert back 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 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).

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.

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.

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.