5th over: India 31-1 (Rohit 14, Kohli 11) Rohit’s off and running. He hits Curran through midwicket for successive boundaries, a languid clip followed by a flamboyant tennis shot. He smashes the next ball towards backward point, where the flying Brook puts down an almost impossible one-handed chance. Technically it’s a drop; in reality he saved three runs.
An eventful over continues with an unsuccessful LBW appeal against Kohli. I thought England might review, just because it’s Kohli, but Jos Buttler was calm enough to realise it had pitched outside leg. This is great stuff!
4th over: India 21-1 (Rohit 5, Kohli 10) Blimey. Kohli drives Woakes’s first ball magnificently over extra cover for six. A single takes him to 1100 runs in T20 World Cups, at the obscene average of 85, and there are 10 runs from the over.
Rohit is struggling to time it, though we’ve seen him do this in the past and end with 110 off 70 balls.
“I wonder if Buttler’s decision to bowl first is a self-challenge?” says John Starbuck. “There have been a fair few wicketkeeper-openers and it’s always seemed odd to me, since after a full innings of keeping they have to get their batting gear on and play a hugely important role. Are there any stats about the really good keeper-openers, especially those who captain, and their success rates?”
You want to talk about this now? (Buttler’s record isn’t very good when opening, captaining, keeping and batting second: 93 runs at 13.28.)
3rd over: India 11-1 (Rohit 4, Kohli 2) Sam Curran angles his first ball across Kohli, who pushes nervously and is beaten. The next ball is shorter and does take the edge, but it drops just short of Moeen at slip. Sheesh, that was close.
Curran concedes just a single from a terrific over, which ends with an unsuccessful (and more than a little optimistic) LBW appeal against Rohit. England have started really well.
2nd over: India 10-1 (Rohit 4, Kohli 1) Evening Virat.
Gottim! Chris Woakes strikes with his fourth ball. It kicked from back of a length, and Rahul edged a flashing cut stroke through to Jos Buttler.
That was smart bowling from Woakes, whose first three deliveries had been full and straight, too straight in fact, to Rohit Sharma. This was much shorter, much wider, and seemed to take Rahul a bit by surprise.
1st over: India 6-0 (Rahul 5, Rohit 1) And they’re off. Stokes’s first ball is a wide outswinger that KL Rahul back cuts for four. “This looks, already, a very, very good pitch,” says Ravi Shastri, after two balls.
There’s a bit of swing for Stokes, and Rohit Sharma is beaten chasing a full, wide delivery. Rohit pushes the next ball to mid-off to get off the mark, and then Rahul plays and misses at an excellent delivery. A fascinating first over, with something for everyone. Okay not everyone.
“Good evening from Brisbane,” says Phil Withall. “I have a small problem. I want England to win, I really want England to win. However, the prospect of 100,000 Indian and Pakistani fans in the MCG is rather exciting. The repetitive drone that is the Barmy Army does get more than a tad repetitive for my tastes. I may be being unfair, I admire their undying support and commitment but the trumpet…”
You want to talk about trumpets now?
Ben Stokes will bowl the first over. England would love an early wicket or seven.
The players line up for the anthems. Some look relaxed, others intense. There’s more than one gameface for an occasion like this.
I’m off to grab a coffee. See you in a bit for – gulp – India v England in the World Cup semi-final.
“Rob,” says Yog Wadhwa, “Indians are without their first-choice fast bowler and spinning allrounder – Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.”
I know, I was being flippant. It shows the depth of both squads that the first XIs still look so strong. I’d fancy an India C team to make the semi-finals.
“Your mention of India winning the last four series between the teams got me thinking about the unpredictability of T20 as the chaos theory version of cricket,” says Tom Van der Gucht. “Everything, at some point, as to happen: England are therefore due a win against them… Hopefully…
“But, in terms of the cricketing gods playing a larger game with the teams merely their chess pieces, a final between Pakistan and India would be the more glorious conclusion… So, I suppose it comes down to the old clash between science and religion as to who will progress.”
William Goldman knew a lot about cricket.
England are without almost half of their best T20 XI – Bairstow, Malan, Archer, Wood and Topley. Let’s get the excuses in early, eh.
Mark Wood has failed his fitness test and is replaced by Chris Jordan. That might be a blessing in disguise for England, although of course England would love Wood’s breathtaking pace. The only other change is Phil Salt for Dawid Malan. Salt is carded to bat at No3, though Eoin Morgan says he would open with him because of his ability to go hard from ball one in the Powerplay.
India are unchanged, which means Rishabh Pant – another hitter who is very strong square of the wicket – is preferred to Dinesh Karthik. Look at that middle order, and gulp if you’re an England fan: Kohli, Suryakumar, Pant, Pandya.
India KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh.
England Buttler (c/wk), Hales, Salt, Stokes, Brook, Ali, Livingstone, Curran, Woakes, Jordan, Rashid.
Well that’s interesting. England have been nervous chasers this year, but it’s been their preferred approach since the revolution in 2015.
Rohit Sharma drily notes that India would have batted anyway.
It’s a beautiful evening in Adelaide, so you can put the DLS sheet away. The pitch is used, though it’s nearly a week since the last game so the curator has had plenty of time to freshen it up. All the commentators think it looks like a belter.
The toss isn’t straightforward, not least because – absurd statgasm alert – all 11 T20Is on this ground have been won by the team that lost the toss. Psychologically, batting first important for England but the can come on nicely under the lights.
Early team news
Dawid Malan is definitely out with a groin injury, and Mark Wood is doubtful. Phil Salt and Chris Jordan – whose yorkers are a good option on a ground with such short square boundaries – are likely to come in.
India have one big decision to make: Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant.
Simon Burnton’s big-match preview
At last. Since white-ball cricket was invented in 2015, England and India have been the best teams in the world. But in that time, they have danced around each other at major tournaments. They’ve met only once, never in the knockout stages. They were on course for a humdinger of a final in 2016 (World T20), 2017 (Champions Trophy) and especially 2019 (World Cup), but on each occasion one of them was beaten in the semi-finals.
They won’t meet in the final this year either, but we’ll happily make do with a blockbusting semi-final: India v England in Adelaide for the right to play – oh yes – a rampant Pakistan in the final on Sunday. It’s been a long time coming. But unlike many long-awaited rumbles – Mayweather v Pacquiao, Tyson v Lewis, Barlow v Baldwin – this will take place with both parties close to their peak.
Though England and India each have a bigger rival, their matches still have a unique intensity. (Don’t mention the M word, but keep an eye out for it if the game gets fractious.) There is also huge mutual respect, fostered mainly through the IPL. Both teams recognise in each other the thing that elite sportsfolk crave the most: a worthy adversary.
India go into today’s game as slight favourites. They’ve won their last four T20 series against England, which must count for something; they are No1 in the world rankings and have played better cricket than England in this tournament – even though, paradoxically, they were closer to the brink during their win over Bangladesh. There’s also a argument that India are under more pressure to win – firstly because they haven’t won a global tournament since 2013, secondly because they are India, thirdly because they are India.
England, as an endearingly candid Moeen Ali said the other day, would like another white-ball trophy to confirm their greatness. They have a history of raising their game for the toughest opponents, certainly at World Cups, and a few key players – Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Mark Wood (though he is an injury doubt), Sam Curran – are bang in form. If you are into the whole positive-accentuation thing, those who aren’t in form are due.
Buttler’s new-ball contest with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has caused him all sorts of trouble in the recent past*, could be vital. England also need plans for Virat Kohli, who averages 123 in this tournament and a scandalous 84 at all T20 World Cups – and for Suryakumar Yadav, the freest spirit in world cricket.
Suryakumar should love the short square boundaries at the Adelaide Oval. England could do with – here comes the cheesy pun – a bit of blue-SKY thinking, because nobody seems to have a clue how to bowl to a man who can hit any ball for six. It might just be an extended purple patch, but at the moment it feels like he is redefining middle-order batting. He has a T20I strike rate of 180, and abracadabrad 117 from 55 balls against England in the summer.
The good news for England is that they won that game. The bad news is that it was a dead rubber because they’d already lost the series. In short, nobody knows anything, but it’s England v India in a World Cup knockout game for the first time since Graham Gooch’s sweepathon in 1987**. If your mouth isn’t watering, you should seek urgent medical advice.
* In T20Is Buttler has scored 30 from 32 balls off Bhuvneshwar – and been dismissed five times
** The infamous group game in 1999 was effectively a knockout, though that only became apparent at the start of the second innings
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