"They have helped India lose"- Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma pair prosecuted, put on trial for India's losses in ICC events

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels that Rohit Sharma's team India has a good chance of beating England in the ICC T20 WC 2024 semi-final.

England and India will be appearing later tonight in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 in West Indies and the USA. This Anglo-Indian match-up is going to be a replay of the 2022 SF in Adelaide wherein Rohit Sharma's men were downed by Jos Buttler's Three Lions. 

That SF at the Land Down Under was a one-sided affair as England had drowned India by 10 wickets while chasing down a 160+ total. The English team then went on to beat Pakistan by 5-wickets in the finale which took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This time around, Rohit Sharma's Men in Blue will be aiming to get their revenge and settle the scores. 

For the Indians to win the semi-final, Rohit Sharma will have to continue the form he displayed against Australia in the last Super 8 match. Rohit had smacked a sensational 90+ knock in less than 50 balls at a daunting strike rate of 220+. Other than him, India will rely on performances from the entire batting order, especially Virat Kohli who has looked totally out of touch in this edition.

Virat Kohli has scored just 66 runs from 6 T20 WC 2024 games in the Group stages and Super 8s. He will not get a better chance than tonight in the semis to get over his lean patch score some runs for his team and take them through to the final. During the 2014 edition when India reached their last T20 WC final, Kohli played a key role throughout the tournament. 

In fact, in the SF against South Africa, Virat Kohli had a score of 72 off 44 while chasing 173 in Dhaka and something similar will be expected from him tonight. 

Sanjay Manjrekar claims India are a changed side and aims a dig at Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

While speaking to Star Sports recently, Sanjay Manjrekar claimed that this Indian team is a very different T20I team than it was 2 years ago. Manjrekar then said that the 2022 SF final loss was a wake-up for the side and admitted that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both have been key reasons behind India's loss in the semis.

"India is completely changed as a T20 side. That was a wake-up call for India. They may not admit it. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have never confessed that they helped India lose the semifinals, but this new India is a completely different India." - Manjrekar told Star Sports.

Manjrekar believes England have become weaker 

A major reason why Sanjay Manjrekar believes the Indian team can win against England is that the latter side have become very weak. "What's also good for India is that England is looking a little weaker than they were a couple of years back. So that just helps India's cause." - Sanjay Manjrekar concluded.