Rohit Sharma vows not to spare Liam Livingstone if he… next ball leaves Suryakumar Yadav in disbelief

Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel emerged heroes with the ball in India's 68-run shellacking of England in the second T20 World Cup semi-final, but had it not been for Rohit Sharma's gritty half-century the outcome could have been a whole lot different. The India skipper's 57 off 39 balls on one of the toughest pitches of this World Cup gave the rest of his batters the assurance that by showing a little bit of application, India could get a par score. It was a kind of surface where 190-200 would always be ambitious, but anything around 160 could challenge the opposition. India, thanks to their batting depth, ended up getting 11 more and comfortably won by 68 runs to secure a place in the final.

India could have gotten a bit more had it not been for the 90-minute rain interval. They had raced to 65/1 after 8 overs when rain returned to cause a long halt. When play resumed, Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav had to start from scratch. Sensing the opportunity, England employed the spin duo of Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone, who, to a certain extent, applied the break on India's boundary-hitting spree.

However, Rohit was having none of it. Livingstone bowled a quiet first over, giving away just four off it. But while facing Livingstone's second over, the India skipper decided to break the shackles. After playing a dot in the penultimate ball of the over, Rohit looked at Surya at the non-striker end and said, 'Upar daala toh deta hu na' (If he pitches it full, I'll go after it). And the very next ball, staying true to his words, Rohit smoked a half-volley for a six – his first of the innings. Even Suryakumar had his hands on his head in disbelief.

Watch the clip below:

The six helped Indie regain momentum. Rohit smacked a six more, as did Suryakumar as India momentarily got their groove back. Sure enough, England breathed a huge sigh of relief once Rashid and Chris Jordan removed the two set batters Rohit and Suryakumar in quick succession, but with Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel chipping in with use contributions, India got themselves to an above-par total.

Rohit Sharma's never-ending purple patch

During his innings, Rohit completed 5000 runs in international cricket as captain, another feather in his cap. Rohit has batted like a man possessed since India's exit in Adelaide 2022, leading India to 16 wins in 17 matches as captain in ICC tournaments. His own form has witnessed a surge. In the 2023 World Cup, Rohit scored 597 runs and has continued it here as well to be the third-highest run-scorer with 248 from 7 games, including three half-centuries.

Rohit and India now stand one win away from their greatest accomplishment, winning the T20 World Cup. It's been 13 long years since India last won a World Cup in any format and 11 since they lifted an ICC silverware. Having come perilously close on the last several occasions, Saturday is this unit's best chance to right all the wrongs and ease the pain of November 19, 2023.