India are through to the finals. That too for the second time in a year. Though the match timings for this World Cup are spread through different time zones, the match started at an even weird time for India, perhaps at a different stage as well. It began for them in the winter of 2022 miles away from where they played today. It was the second semi-final of a happening World Cup too. It had India and England clashing against each other as well. But for the world, it ended on the same day, with news headlines announcing India’s 10-wicket annihilation across the globe. For India, it remained an unfinished business. Until they got another chance to make things right.
Not everyone is lucky enough to do that. Even if you end up building a time machine to do things differently in the past, the constant flow of time and complex nature of destiny is such that you would always end up facing the same predicament no matter how many rounds you take back in time. India knew it well so they scrapped this time machine idea and started looking for something more realistic. Come realistic did. In the form of their bowling lineup.
Vengeance is sweet. Even sweeter when done on the same stage where you were once disgraced. India needed everything to be the same. Except for the point where they faltered last time; taking wickets. They sent everyone back in this time lest anyone doubted their bowlers’ ability to take wickets.
It was not only the bowlers. Taking nothing from how they played havoc with the English lineup, the pitch was always predicted to assist them. But Rohit Sharma-led team secured half of the game in their kitty in the first innings. When they batted and batted at an above-par rate. Despite losing Kohli and Rishab Pant within the powerplay and rain hell-bent on destroying their rhythm, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav recovered while making their willows take the pressure off their shoulders. None stayed for long after Rohit but everyone got 10/10 for putting impactful figures on the board. By the end of the first innings, the game still lingered within the grasp of both teams.
Before the powerplay could end, three English batters counted their steps back to the pavilion for only 39 runs. The asking rate was nearly ten, while the scoring rate hung out near a timid 6. The engineer behind this demolition project was Axar Patel. Seeing his spin mate enjoying the party, Kuldeep Yadav joined merrily and turned the ball as if he had a magic wand hidden somewhere. Soon it was a competition of who reached the halfway point first between England’s wickets and overs. Wickets won and Jos Butler’s men reached a point of no return. The English defense had fallen. It was just a matter of time before all of the English batters returned to the hut after tasting the Indian brutality, something they could not do in Adelaide.
The two-year-old nightmares would not bother Rohit Sharma and co. anymore. They have fought the boogeyman off and gone past every fear. It is now time to face another unbeaten team in the final. It remains to be seen which of both teams will get its first heartbreak in this tournament on Sunday.
