Virat Kohli has endured a poor T20 World Cup (Picture: Getty)
Struggling Virat Kohli is ‘probably saving’ his best form for the T20 World Cup final, India captain Rohit Sharma said after his side thrashed England to reach the showpiece event.
Kohli’s poor form at the T20 World Cup continued in India’s emphatic victory over England, the India opener making nine from nine balls before being bowled by Reece Topley.
His opening partner Rohit smashed 57 from 39 and found support from Suryakumar Yadav (47 from 36) and Hardik Pandya (23 from 13) as India posted 171-7 on a challenging pitch in Guyana.
England spinners Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone conceded just 49 from their combined eight overs while Chris Jordan took three wickets, including two in two balls as he eyed back-to-back World Cup hat-tricks.
Jos Buttler made a quick 23 as England began their reply but the reigning champions lost three wickets in the powerplay and two in the next overs to slip to 49-5.
Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav inflicted most of the damage, both taking three wickets as England were skittled for just 103 to lose by 68 runs.
‘It’s very satisfying to win this game,’ Rohit said. ‘We worked really hard as a unit. To win like that was a great effort from everybody.
India thrashed England to reach the T20 World Cup final (Picture: Getty)
‘I thought we adapted to the conditions. They were really challenging. If we play according to the conditions, things fall into place.
‘At one stage we felt 140 or 150 would be competitive. Then we said 25 runs more. I can set a target in my mind, but I don’t want to let anyone know, because all of our batters are instinctive players and I want them to play freely.
‘I thought 170 was a very good score and the bowlers were fantastic.’
On Kohli, who has scored just 75 runs in seven innings at the T20 World Cup, Rohit added: ‘Virat is a quality player.
England were ‘outplayed’ by India in a one-sided semi-final (Picture: Getty)
‘Any player can go through that. We understand his class. When you have played for 15 years, form is never a problem. He’s probably saving it for the final.’
India will face unbeaten South Africa in Saturday’s final at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown and Rohit wants his team to be ‘composed’ as they chase a second T20 World Cup title.
‘We’ve been very calm,’ he said. ‘We understand the occasion of the final. It’s important we stay composed, because that helps you make good decisions. We have been very steady, calm, and that has been the key for us.
‘We’ll try our best. All I can hope is to put in another good show come the final.’
India face South Africa in the T20 World Cup final (Picture: Getty)
England travelled to the Caribbean hoping to defend their T20 World Cup trophy and win the competition for a record third time but will now head home following a humbling defeat.
Buttler said: ‘India outplayed us, certainly. We let them maybe get 20/25 too many on a challenging surface that they played well on. They fully deserved to win.
‘Two years on, different conditions, it looks very different. India played the game very well.
‘With the rain around, we didn’t think the conditions would change and they didn’t – they just outplayed us and got a very good score. I don’t think the toss was the difference between us.
‘They’ve got some fantastic spinners. Our two bowled well but in hindsight, yeah, probably should’ve bowled Moeen in our innings with the way spin was playing.
‘But with a good score and their brilliant bowling attack it was always going to be a tough chase.
‘With everything that’s happened in the tournament I’m really proud of the group’s efforts. We can only play who’s in front of us.
‘We’ve had a lot of adversity but we have stuck together really well, we played good cricket in patches but unfortunately came up short when we needed it most.’
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