Familiar foe awaits in Guyana
Rohit once again led the way in the cut-throat semi-final with his third half-century of the tournament, but 171/7 seemed a gettable score for England with their strong batting line-up.
It was England openers Jos Buttler and Phil Salt that were causing much concern for Rohit and it was Bumrah that once again delivered on the biggest stage to remove the dangerman and put his side on the path to victory and a place in the final.
“If you take early wickets in the Powerplay, half the job is already done as those early breakthroughs are vital,” Rohit said.
“How you get them, and with which bowlers—that’s a tactical decision. But the wickets themselves are non-negotiable.
“Especially for a team like England, their openers—Buttler and Salt—are very strong players. They score most of their runs at the top, so getting them early was critical. Luckily, we got Buttler, who is their key batter. He’s got so much experience and has played cricket all over the world.
“And he’s faced our Indian bowlers a lot—he knows how to play Axar (Patel), Kuldeep (Yadav), Bumrah… he knows all of them well. So getting his wicket was absolutely crucial. We managed to get him in the third over, I think. Then in the very next over, Salt got out and (Jonny) Bairstow followed shortly after.
“At that point, we knew half the job was done. But we still had work to do. But these wickets were important, because their top three or four players can be very dangerous.
“After that, we slowed the game down, brought in the spinners. Kuldeep came and picked up wickets in the middle. Axar bowled well, and so did Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja).
“The pitch was definitely helping the spinners, and my plan was to get the slower bowlers on as quickly as possible.”
