England suffered a crushing 68-run defeat at the hands of India in the second semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Thursday (June 27).

Asked to bat first, the Men in Blue posted 171/7 in their allotted 20 overs on a slow pitch. Skipper Rohit Sharma was the top scorer with 57 off 39 balls while Suryakumar Yadav (47 off 36), Hardik Pandya (23 off 13) and Ravindra Jadeja (17* off 9) made crucial contributions.

In reply, England’s innings folded for a paltry 103 in 16.4 overs. It was a listless batting display from the defending champions as no one managed to touch the 30-run mark. Harry Brook top scored with 25 off 19 balls.

The duo of Akshar Patel (3-23) and Kuldeep Yadav (3-19) spun a web around the English batters, claiming three wickets each to script India’s emphatic win. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah also returned with a couple of scalps in his 2.4 overs.

After the game, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar questioned England's decision to bowl first against an Indian team that has complete bowling arsenal to defend any total.

Jos Buttler’s decision was perhaps based on overhead conditions that could disrupt their run-chase and bring the DLS calculations into play.

"Ye mujhe koi bata de kis Einstein ne kaha tha England ko ke toss jeet ke aapne doosri batting karni hai, kaunsa sciencedaan hai inke paas (which Einstein told England to win the toss and chase, which scientist they have). A team that has three spinners, Akshar, Kuldeep, who is a match winner, and (Ravindra) Jadeja; then they have (Jasprit) Bumrah. So kisne aapko mashvara diya ke India ke khilaaf toss jeet ke aap doosri batting kar lein (so who advised you to win the toss and chase against India). I don't think that was a good decision," said Akhtar in a video posted on his ‘X’ handle.

Fondly known as the Rawalpindi Express, Shoaib Akhtar also congratulated the Indian team with a special mention about skipper Rohit Sharma.

"I am very happy to see India (win), a well deserved team that has full range of batting...I have been saying this since long (that) there is no batsman like Rohit Sharma, then Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. These three batsmen, one of whom is an allrounder (Hardik), can win you a game by all means," he remarked.

With this victory, India set up date with South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2024 final, scheduled to be played on Saturday (June 29) in Barbados.