England take on India in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022 at the Adelaide Oval. Here are five key battles likely to define the course of the match.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar v Jos Buttler
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been Jos Buttler’s kryptonite in T20 cricket. He dismissed him for a spectacular golden-duck during England and India’s T20I series this summer and has a remarkable record against England’s captain. In total, Kumar has bowled 32 balls to Buttler, conceded 30 runs and got Buttler out five times.
England’s lefties v Axar Patel
Axar Patel hasn’t had a fantastic tournament so far. In four games he has taken just three wickets and conceded runs at 9.10 an over. With Malan a doubt to be fit, it is likely that England will have a top-seven that includes five right-handers which will bring Patel’s left-arm finger spin more into the game. It is important then that England’s lefties, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali, do not let him settle.
Sam Curran at the death
Curran reinvented himself as England’s premier death bowler ahead of this competition and has excelled in the role so far across the tournament. Overall at the death, Curran has bowled 40 deliveries, conceded just 32 runs and taken seven wickets in the process. With India’s firepower in the middle-order including the likes of Hardik Pandya and either Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik, Curran will be crucial. However, if India were looking for a match-up to combat this, Dinesh Karthik has scored 64 runs in 26 balls against Sam Curran.
Sam Curran at the death in this #T20WorldCup
vs🇦🇫 : 10 balls, 2 runs, 4 wickets
vs☘️: 6 balls, 6 runs, 2 wickets
vs🇳🇿: 12 balls, 14 runs, 1 wicket
vs 🇱🇰: 12 balls, 10 runs, 0 wicketsOverall: 40 balls, 32 runs conceded, 7 wickets
— Matt Roller (@mroller98) November 5, 2022
How do you stop SKY?
“We are in the midst of an historic T20 World Cup campaign.”
SKY has been nothing short of sensational this World Cup. 225 runs in just 116 balls, an average of 75 and a strike-rate of almost 200. Analysis from CricViz shows that Yadav is one of roughly 20 players in history to have a positive impact rating against all five bowling types. The only bowling type he doesn’t dominate is slow left-arm. Liam Dawson, anyone?
Pant v Rashid
The left-handed Pant, who came into the side for Dinesh Karthik in India’s last group game against Zimbabwe, has an excellent record against Adil Rashid across formats. In T20Is, he has a strike-rate of 152.9 having scored 26 runs off 17 balls. And in ODIs it is even better as Pant has scored 55 runs off 33 balls. Rashid has never dismissed Pant in white-ball cricket.
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