India will take on England in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup from midnight on Thursday night. As we have been all tournament, we will be providing a full preview and betting tips for the massive semi-final below!
T20 World Cup Preview & Betting Tips
India vs England
Providence, Friday 12.30am (AEST)
India
Predicted XI: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah
India have been pretty consistent in their team selection throughout the tournament so far, only making slight changes to their bowling unit to reflect their preference on the day for seam vs spin. They will likely go into the semi with the same side that knocked off Australia in their final game of the Super 8 stage.
Batting first, the Indians piled on 5/205 on the back of a dominant performance from Rohit Sharma. Opening the batting, the skipper smashed 92 off just 41 balls and was aided through the middle with valuable contributions from Suryakumar Yadav (31 off 16), Shivam Dube (28 off 22) and Hardik Pandya (27 off 17).
While the bowling performance didn’t seal the deal straight away, the Indian attack did enough to secure the win, holding Australia to 7/181 after an early flurry from Travis Head. Spinner Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers with 2/24 off his four overs.
England
Predicted XI: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curren, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
The English side has been fairly settled throughout the tournament as well, but they made a big change before their must win clash against the USA in the Super 8s, and it paid off. Dropping out of form paceman Mark Wood, the Poms brought in Chris Jordan, and the T20 stalwart delivered with 4/10 off just 2.5 overs.
The performance from Jordan helped bowl USA out for just 115. In reply, the English chased the total down with ease, passing the mark no wickets down in the 10th over. Jos Buttler was the standout with the bat blasting 83 off just 38 balls, a performance that will have opposition teams wary coming into the semi-finals.
Prediction
India have been almost untouchable throughout the tournament so far, except for a slight blip against Pakistan back in their second game of the group stage. They have been even more
dominant since leaving the Untied States and getting onto the more batter friendly pitches in the West Indies, where they have put up scores of 196, 181 and 205 in their last three games. These West Indian pitches are playing very similarly to what the squad would have become accustomed to over the recent IPL season, so I think they have massive advantage here.
While the English have looked great over their last few games, their form at stages throughout this tournament has been shaky. Salt and Buttler are superstars at the top but their middle order is incredibly fragile and I can see it struggling against the spin contingent of India in this one.
India to win
$1.62 (1 Unit)
