Former England skipper and cricket pundit Nasser Hussain lavished praise on Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for his explosive knocks in the ICC T20 World Cup, calling the Australia innings “brutal elegance at its best”. During the Men in Blue’s final Super Eights match against Australia, the Indian skipper was on a mission mode to exorcise the demons of the 50-over World Cup final loss on November 19 last year at home against Australia, as he pummeled Australia’s feared bowling line-up of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, etc into submission with a 41-ball 92, consisting of seven fours and eight sixes. Key highlights of his knock were smashing Starc for 29 runs in the third over, including four sixes, and slog-sweeping Cummins for a huge 100 m six on the first ball of the fifth over.

Speaking on the Sky Sports podcast, Hussain said that a shift in India’s game and mentality in T20Is happened after a helpless ten-wicket loss to England in the 2022 T20 World Cup semis, which was visible in Rohit-led team’s game during the 50-over World Cup next year, where they brutalised bowling attack with unprecedented aggression on their way to a runners-up finish to Australia. But he also noted that India could not replicate this approach on the tough, more unplayable pitches of New York’s Nassau County Stadium.

“I think the change in mentality happened after that World T20 semi-final in Adelaide and that was noticeable in India in the 50-over World Cup and definitely noticeable as we have gone through this tournament, as they have moved away from New York,” said Hussain.

“They could not quite do it in New York because of the pitches. The pitches were poor and you could not go out there and express yourself. But as their batters have gotten a bit of confidence then they have gone back to that mentality and it is completely led by Rohit Sharma,” he added.

Hussain said that Rohit “walked the talk” as a captain during the match against Australia, focusing on the team’s score and strike rate rather than a potential maiden T20 WC century. He also expressed admiration for Rohit’s takedown of Australian pacers.

“If you are going to walk the talk as a captain and he did before the Australia game. He said ‘I am not worried about the 50s and 100s, I am worried about what is the score, the balls faced, the strike rate and that was the great white-ball innings I have seen, what he did against Australia. Elegant, absolute brutal elegance at its best. Taking down Starc, slog-sweeping Cummins, inside out over extra cover. That was one of the best innings, visually I have seen. It was just outstanding,” he added.

Rohit’s 92 helped India put up 205/5 on the board and restricted Australia to 181/7 in their 20 overs despite Travis Head‘s counter-attacking 76 in 43 balls, with nine fours and four sixes. After Bangladesh’s loss to Afghanistan, Australia was eliminated from the tournament, getting just one win and facing two losses in Super Eights, including one to Afghanistan.

In six matches of the tournament so far, Rohit has scored 191 runs at an average of 38.20, with a strike rate of 159.16 and two half-centuries. His best score is 92.

Rain threat looms over the second semi-final T20 World Cup, scheduled to be played between India and England at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. The weather forecast has cast doubts over the game with the capital of Guyana, Georgetown, experiencing heavy rain over the past few days. While there is an uncertainity in the air as far as the weather is concerned, fans have expressed their concern over ICC’s decision of not alotting a reserve day for the high-stakes clash.

Since there’s only a day’s gap between the India-England humdinger in Guyana and the final in Barbados, ICC clarified that the decision was taken keeping in mind that the players get some rest before the summit clash.

“For performance reasons, to ensure teams do not have to ‘play-travel-play’ on consecutive days, the decision was taken to allocate the additional time for the second semi-final immediately post the game because the game is a 10.30am start, whilst the first semi-final is an evening start, which means it is not feasible to play all additional time on the same day,” a spokesperson from ICC had told ESPNcricinfo.

While there is no reserve day for the match, extra 250 minutes have been alotted to complete the match, if rain does show up.

Since it’s a day game as per local time (10:30 AM start), the cut off time for a 10-overs-a-side game is 1.44 am IST (4:14 AM local time).

Meanwhile, India will look to avenge the 10-wicket drubbing against the Jos Buttler-led side in the semifinal of the 2022 edition.

India have won every game they’ve been able to compete in, with the only dropped points coming from the abandoned fixture against Canada at a rain-soaked Lauderhill.

England, on the other hand, has had a hot-and-cold campaign, with impressive wins and unexpected losses, and has fought tooth and nail to qualify for the semifinals.

(With IANS Inputs)

IND vs ENG Live: Squads –

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal

England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w/c), Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Mark Wood, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Tom Hartley

Will it rain or not? That has been the big question in the lead up to India’s T20 World Cup semi-final clash against England at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. The rain has cast a shadow of uncertainty on the much-awaited clash, which will be a repeat of the last T20 World Cup semi-final which was played in Adelaide, Australia. For both teams, the final destination is the same — a place in the summit clash against South Africa in Barbados.

The Proteas blew Afghanistan away in the first semi-final without any rain interruption, even though there was a reserve day for that game in Trinidad.

Is that the case for the second semi-final too? Not exactly. The ICC has not alotted a reserve day for the India-England semi-final. With the capital of Guyana, Georgtown, witnessing decent amount of rain over the past few days, there is a possibility that the same might happen during the day of the match.

If rain does spoil the stage, India and England will have contrasting moods. While England will be left behind licking their wounds, India will book a direct entry into the final, mainly because of their higher position in the league and Super 8 phase.

While the ICC’s decision of different rules for the first and the second semi-final has caused an outcry in the media, the apex body has issued a clarification on the same.

An ICC spokesperson has suggested that since there’s only a day’s gap between the second semi-final in Guyana and the final in Barbados, the decision to have no reserve day for the India-England game was taken so taken so that the second finalist gets enough time to rest and travel.

“For performance reasons, to ensure teams do not have to ‘play-travel-play’ on consecutive days, the decision was taken to allocate the additional time for the second semi-final immediately post the game because the game is a 10.30am start, whilst the first semi-final is an evening start, which means it is not feasible to play all additional time on the same day,” ESPNcricinfo quoted the ICC spokesperson as saying.

Not to forget, the semi-final was played in the evening (8:30 PM local time, 6 AM IST), the second semi-final will begin at 10:30 AM local time (8 PM IST).

The ICC spokesperson also said that the overs will start being reduced only at approximately 2.40pm (12:10 AM IST): 250 minutes after the scheduled start time of 10.30am.

The semi-final spots for the ongoing T20 World Cup are all locked up. While India and England will face off in a repeat of last edition’s semi-final, where the latter won by 10 wickets in Adelaide, South Africa will take on Afghanistan in the other match. Afghanistan will make their T20 World Cup semi-finals debut in the first semi-final in Trinidad. While the first semi-final will begin at 6 AM IST, India’s match against England will be played from 8 PM IST in Guyana. Both matches will be played on Thursday (IST).

As far as the playing conditions are concerned, there are different rules for the semi-finals and finals.

While there is a reserve day in place for the first semi-final between South Africa and Afghanistan, the same is not the case for the India-England humdinger.

Why India vs England semi-final doesn’t have a reserve day?

It was pre-decided that India’s semi-final will be played in Guyana. But, there will be no reserve day for the second semi-final with just a day gap between the match in Guyana and the final in Barbados.

However, it has an extra 250 minutes scheduled if needed since it is a day game as per local time. 

What happens if India vs England semi-final is washed out?

Guyana has witnessed decent amount of rain over the past few days, and it is highly likely that the match gets washed out due to the same. There is a 90 per cent chance of rain. 

Since there is no reserve day, extra 250 minutes have been allotted in order to complete the match. However, if no action is possible on the scheduled day, India will advance to the final by virtue of their higher group standing.

The same is the case with the other semi-final. If no play is possible on the day’s play and the reserve day, South Africa will advance to the final due to their higher ranking in the Super Eight stage.

It is also worth noting that in case of a rain interruption on the day’s play, there won’t be a fresh start on the rain reserve day.

For the first semi-final, there’s an extra 60 minutes at the end of the day’s play and a further 190 minutes on the reserve day.