India produced a stunning run chase against West Indies to secure a semi-final versus England and knock their opponents out of the T20 World Cup in a five-wicket victory in their last Super 8s match.
A swashbuckling Sanju Samson innings (97no off 50 balls), bettering Virat Kohli’s record for the highest score by an Indian in a T20 World Cup chase, saw India top West Indies’ 195-4 with four balls to spare.
Samson hit the first two deliveries of the final over, bowled by Romario Shepherd, for six and four to seal the win.
India will now face England in Mumbai on Thursday, live on Sky Sports (1.30pm first ball), with South Africa taking on New Zealand in Kolkata a day earlier in the first semi-final.
Captain Shai Hope scored 32 in West Indies’ total of 195-4
A middle-order flurry by Jason Holder (37no off 22) and Rovman Powell (34 no off 19) consolidated the useful scores of captain Shai Hope (32 off 33) and fellow opener Roston Chase (40 off 25) to give West Indies a substantial total to defend.
Hope’s side had hope after taking the early wickets of struggling opener Abhishek Sharma (10 off 11) and No 3 Ishan Kishan (10 off 6), before captain Suryakumar Yadav (18 off 16) was caught in the 10th over to put the hosts under pressure.
India’s middle order held firm, though.
Tilak Varma (27 off 15) pushed the run-rate back up, and West Indies were made to rue Jason Holder’s dropped catch of Hardik Pandya (17 off 16) in the 16th over as the quick-scoring No 6 partnered well with Samson.
Samson partnered with a composed Shivam Dube (8no off 4) to see his side home and capped his record-breaking performance with two winning boundaries to send the Kolkata crowd into raptures.
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Full highlights from Colombo as Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed powered England to a four-wicket win over New Zealand in the T20 World Cup
India’s victory means they will take on England in a third successive T20 World Cup semi-final.
England thrashed their rivals by 10 wickets in Adelaide in 2022 with India gaining revenge with a 68-run triumph in Guyana two years ago.
On both occasions, the victors went on to lift the trophy, and India have set up a much-anticipated trilogy against Harry Brook’s side.
It is a little over a year ago that India beat England 4-1 in a bilateral T20 series, which concluded with a crushing 150-run win at the Wankhede Stadium, where the teams will meet later this week.
India raced to 247-9 in February last year, powered by Abhishek’s 135, which was more than the entire England team amassed as they were bundled out for a sorry 97.
India have won nine of their last 12 T20s against England, including five of the last six matches.
Samson: One of the greatest days of my life
India opener and Player of the Match Sanju Samson:
“[The innings] means the whole world to me. Right from the day I started dreaming of playing for the country, this is the knock I was waiting for.
“I’ve been playing this format for many years. Learned from a lot of greats like Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni. That helped with my experience. I’ve noticed how the greats play, and seeing how they change their game according to situations.
“Last game we were batting first so i was going from ball one, but this game it was different. Every time I tried to go too high we were losing wickets.
“Didn’t think I would play this special knock ,but yeah this is one of the greatest days of my life.”
Hope: You never want to end at this stage
West Indies captain Shai Hope:
“I thought we were good in the tournament. The way we adapted to different conditions. Especially bowling in the powerplay. Akeal [Hosien] was very good, [Gurkadesh] Motie as well once he came back in the team. Just couldn’t get over the line today.
“You never want to end at this stage. One more game and we’d be in the semis and things go well and you’re in the final for the big one.
“We must give the boys credit. We’ve got high standards set for ourselves. No other question for us. We have to play our best cricket on the day. We have to take the crucial moments and capitalise on them.”
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