T20 WC semis: India have a score to settle, England want to make history

In the sporting context, “revenge” is defined as “the defeat of a person or team by whom one was beaten in a previous encounter”. Sportspersons will insist, however, that there is no place for that term in their lexicon, that revenge is the furthest from their mind when they take the field of play.

Perhaps so, because there is no reason not to believe them. But it’s impossible that past results, especially in defining contests, will not occupy the mind space of even the calmest, the most poised, the most benign.

India’s dreams shattered in ODI WC

How can the Indian cricket team, for instance, be realistically expected not to entertain such thoughts when it comes up against Australia?

For 10 matches and a month and a half between October and November last year, Rohit Sharma’s men shredded the field. They played with flair and authority, they exhilarated and enthralled; not only did they win, they did so with elan. They were more a virtuoso band of artistes parading their wares than merely a clinically-professional unit tunnel-visioned on getting the job done. To watch India at the 50-over World Cup was to soak in the experience of being in the presence of greatness.

Until it wasn’t. Until the fateful final in Ahmedabad. Until the charge of the Australian brigade. Until dismay and despondency replaced ecstasy and euphoria. Until the dark shadow of defeat rained on a parade that was to herald the sweet taste of ultimate success. November 19, 2023 will go down as the night when a billion dreams were mercilessly shattered by Pat Cummins’ side - unyielding, unforgiving, unbending.

Redemption for India

India’s first tilt at Australia in a major event since that November disaster came on Monday (June 24), in the T20 World Cup. It was only a Super Eight clash, the stakes were nowhere near as high as they had been at the Narendra Modi Stadium. India were practically through to the semi-finals, though Australia’s survival depended on being on the right side of the result. As if tending to unfinished business, Rohit lashed them to the tune of 92, off just 41 deliveries. India’s 24-run victory pushed the Aussies to the brink of elimination.

Afghanistan’s narrow defeat of Bangladesh which cemented a historic semi-final slot for the fledgling Asian nation confirmed the redoubtable Aussies’ exit from a competition they had won in 2021. Did India rejoice? Maybe they did, even if they realised that this was no compensation for the Ahmedabad heartbreak. After all, cricketers are human beings too.

Unfinished business with England

Their unbeaten run at the T20 World Cup has now brought India face to face with England, in the semi-final of a tournament they haven’t won since 2007. There is unfinished business against the Englishmen, too. India had carved their way through the draw at the T20 World Cup in Australia 19 months back, carrying a winning streak to the semi-finals. Jos Buttler’s bunch stopped them rudely in their tracks, their commanding ten-wicket drubbing a reality check for an Indian side that had yet to fully embrace the no-holds-barred approach to 20-over cricket.

England’s inability to make it to the quarter-final of the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2015 triggered a revolutionary approach based on intrepidness and unfettered positivity. That paid dividends in due course; in 2019 at home, England finally broke their 50-over World Cup duck, and three years later they pocketed the T20 World Cup for the second time (after 2010, in the Caribbean).

Out of the despair of defeat was born the genesis of a brighter future.

India’s makeover after Adelaide 2022 loss

Adelaide 2022 did something similar for Indian cricket. Chastened by being put firmly in their place, India reaffirmed their commitment to playing the brand of cricket that the T20 format demands. There is no place for innings-building, unless the situation so drastically demands; the profusion of specialists had to make way for multi-dimensional players, because a multitude of individuals with a single skillset is a roadblock to success.

India used the intervening period between the two T20 World Cups judiciously, identifying resources, backing them to the hilt, allowing them to grow into their roles, infusing the confidence that failure while adhering to game plans wouldn’t be accompanied by the falling of the axe. Having hitherto merely talked the talk, India walked it too for the last year and a half, which has brought them to this stage of the competition as the form team, the one to beat.

India have fielded four all-rounders in all six matches; two of them bowl seam-up (though Shivam Dube has been used sparingly), two others are left-arm spinners who are also electric fielders.

Hardik Pandya, the more genuine and rounded of the fast-bowling all-rounders, is the pivot, the fulcrum around which India can field an extra batter, an extra pacer, or an extra spinner, depending on the situation. They have three genuine pace options (plus Dube) and three excellent spinners, and bat till No 8. These resources have gelled superbly to bring them head-on with their vanquishers of 2022.

Thursday at the Guyana National Stadium in Providence will allow those that like a good revenge story to follow a rapidly-devolving plot with unalloyed glee.

India has a chance to do to England what England did to them in Adelaide, which sounds macho in print but is a totally different ballgame in practice. What lends greater teeth to India’s challenge is the presence of Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav, neither of whom played in 2022.

Bumrah and Kuldeep have been the standout Indian bowlers, the former striking at different stages of the innings – in the Powerplay, during the middle overs, and in the death – and the latter bossing the phase between overs 7 and 15 or 16 with his exceptional left-arm wrist-spin that has bamboozled and lured many a worthy to his doom.

Repeat or revenge?

There is no gainsaying whether, or how much, England would have struggled to chase down 168 in Adelaide had both, or even one of these bowlers, been available to Rohit. They are now, and at the peak of their prowess, too. Their incisiveness, coupled with the batting riches (the misfiring Virat Kohli is due a score, let’s not forget), point to a different script from 19 months ago, but England won’t just roll over and die.

India may have a score to settle (let’s give them that) but England have history in their sights – no team has successfully defended the T20 World Cup title. Repeat, or revenge?