India v England: Sanju Samson guides side to T20 World Cup final despite heroic Jacob Bethell ton

Harry Brook thought he was finally escaping the worst winter of his life. Then he dropped Sanju Samson at the start of England’s T20 World Cup semi-final against India, and he was straight back in the doldrums. Accepted wisdom had it that Samson had played a once-in-a-lifetime innings a few days earlier against the West Indies to guide the hosts through to this stage. His imperious flow just continued unabated, though – at least once he had been given that life, on 15, by England’s beleaguered captain. For each of the seven sixes and eight fours Samson hit, Brook was hurting a little more. Samson went to 50 in 26 balls. By the end, the captain owed his team an extra 74: Samson ended on 89 from 42 balls, providing the centrepiece of India’s massive 253 for seven in their 20 overs. That is even more than England had to chase in a bilateral T20I at the same ground last year. They lost by 150 runs that day. Jofra Archer suffered most from Brook’s indiscretion. It was off his bowling that the catch was downed. Three balls later, Samson hit him 88 metres for a no-look six. Archer had to wait till his 23 rd ball to get a wicket. By that point he had gone for 60 runs. It was brutal stuff. While Samson was the headliner again, he was far from the lone tormentor. Ishan Kishan made 39 in 18 balls, Shivam Dube 43 from 25, Hardik Pandya 27 in 12, and Tilak Varma 21 in seven. It is well known the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, with its true pitch and accessible boundaries, is a fast scoring ground. But the task facing England, with the pressure of playing for a place in Sunday’s final against New Zealand, was going to be immense. When it came to repaying his debt, it was all too much for Brook. He made seven from six balls before falling to a brilliant diving catch by Axar Patel off the first ball Jasprit Bumrah sent down in England’s chase. The equation appeared miles beyond England at that stage. Phil Salt had already departed. Jos Buttler was trying his best to shake off his miserable run of form. At least he got some boundaries away, but he did not stay long. Jacob Bethell provided a flicker of hope. While Brook might have had the winter from hell, as he suggested after his bounce-back century against Sri Lanka in the Super Eight, Bethell has announced himself as the new golden boy of English cricket in the same period. While everyone was swinging at the other end – some, like Tom Banton and Will Jacks, to qualified effect – Bethell looked to be playing on a different wicket to his colleagues. Something at least akin to the one the Indians had used. The Barbados-born left-hander reached his half-century in a mere 19 balls. That included taking sixes from the first three balls Varun Chakaravarthy bowled. Chakravarthy’s struggles were even worse than those of Archer. By the end of his shift, he had gone for 64 – which was 10 runs more than he had gone for before in a T20 international. Bethell had showed he was made of strong stuff when he made his maiden Test century at the end of an arduous Ashes series in Sydney. If that was impressive, then this was extraordinary. In a seemingly impossible run chase, in front of a frenzied crowd in India’s own backyard, he scored a ton in 45 balls, reaching the landmark with a six off the first ball of the penultimate over. England needed 33 from 11 balls at that stage. They could only eke it down to 30 off the last six. All they had going for them by then was the fact Bethell was at least on strike. He was run out going for two off the first ball of the last over, and England’s race was run.

India v England: Sanju Samson guides side to T20 World Cup final despite heroic Jacob Bethell ton

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