'Virat Kohli is saving it for the final' - Rohit Sharma fires massive warning to South Africa after crushing England

Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, the India National Cricket Team played the semi-final 2 of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 against the Jos Buttler-led England National Cricket Team at the Providence Stadium, Georgetown, Guyana on Thursday, June 27.

This was the second consecutive time that these two teams were locking horns with each other in the semi-final of a T20 World Cup as in the previous edition as well India and England went head-to-head in the high-octane knockout clash.

It was on November 10 at the Adelaide Oval that Rohit Sharma's Men were given the invitation to bat first in the second semi-final of the ICC Men's T20 World 2022. The batting performance of the Indian team turned out to be awful as KL Rahul scored a run-a-ball 5 and skipper Rohit Sharma played a disappointing knock of 27 runs in 28 balls.

The onus was once again on the in-form Virat Kohli to rescue his team and to some extent, he did by smashing a half-century. However, he took 39 balls to reach the milestone and the scoring rate of the side became very slow.

Suryakumar Yadav (14 off 10) and Rishabh Pant (6 off 4) were torrid with the bat as well but a spectacular display came from Hardik Pandya's bat. The all-rounder smoked 63 runs off 33 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes to make sure his team posted a respectable total on the board -168/6.

India had a good enough score to put up a fight with the ball but Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Hardik Pandya didn't know about the assault they were going to deal with in the next 16 overs.

Alex Hales and Jos Buttler brought out their monstrous avatars and smashed 63 runs in six overs. There were still a lot of runs left on the board to chase, but Jos Buttler and Alex Hales became supernova and the score after 16 overs was 170/0 with England winning dominantly by 10 wickets. Alex Hales hit 86 runs and Buttler scored 80 as England booked a spot in the summit clash and they also went on to win the competition.

Coming back to India vs England ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 clash, the Men In Blue got what they wanted as they were invited to bat first. Virat Kohli (9) and Rishabh Pant (4) bagged failures but Rohit Sharma (57) and Suryakumar Yadav (47) played fantastic knocks while Hardik Pandya (23), Ravindra Jadeja (17) and Axar Patel (10) made decent contributions to help India register 171/7.

With that ball, India were just exceptional as Axar Patel (3), Kuldeep Yadav (3) and Jasprit Bumrah (2) combined to destroy the England batting unit. The brilliant bowling performance of the side saw England being bundled out for 103 and India won by 68 runs to book a place in the summit clash of ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Very satisfying to win this game - Rohit Sharma

Speaking after the match, India captain Rohit Sharma expressed his satisfaction over the win and said that they have worked really hard. Rohit Sharma said:

"Very satisfying to win this game. We worked really hard as a unit. To win this game like that was a great effort from everyone. We adapted to the conditions really well. It was a challenge and we adapted. We played the conditions really well. If the players play according to the conditions, things falls in place. Very pleasing with how we came through."

Rohit Sharma added that they felt a score of around 150 was a good one for the match, but with the help of his and Suryakumar Yadav's partnership, they scored over 20 more runs. He stated:

"At one stage, (we were thinking) 140-150, as the game went on, after that partnership, we said another 25 runs. I can set the target in my mind, but I don't want to let anyone know about it, to the batters. They are all instinctive players. I thought 170 was a very good score on this surface."

Rohit Sharma further labeled Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav as gun spinners and showered rich praise on them. He also talked about Virat Kohli's lean patch and said that they aren't worried about the batting great as he still has class and is a quality player. He was also hopeful of Kohli firing in the final. Rohit Sharma elaborated:

"They (Axar and Kuldeep) are gun spinners. It's difficult to play some shots, the pressure is on them as well but they were calm and knew what to bowl. He (Kohli) is a quality player. Any player can go through that. We understand his class and his importance. The intent is there. Form is never a problem when you've played for 15 years. Probably saving for the final. We have been very calm as a team. We understand the occasion (final). Staying composed helps you make good decisions. That'll help us making the game through. You got to play good cricket. That's what we want to do in the final."