Akshar Patel played a key role in India’s emphatic 68-run victory over England in the second semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 at the Providence Stadium, Guyana on Thursday (June 27).
Chasing 172 to win, the defending champions got off to a positive start as the duo of Jos Buttler and Philip Salt added 26 runs for the opening wickets.
Akshar drew the first blood by dismissing Buttler on 23 off 15 balls. He also went on to pick the wickets of Moeen Ali (8) and Jonny Bairstow (0) cheaply, helping India reduce England to 46/4.
The Three Lions failed to recover from the damage inflicted by Akshar in the first 10. The left-arm spinner returned with the figures of 3 for 23 in his four overs.
Akshar was ably supported by Kuldeep Yadav (3-19 in 4 overs) and Jasprit Bumrah (2-12 in 2.4 overs) as India bundled out England for a paltry 103 in 16.4 overs.
After receiving the Player-of-the-Match award, Akshar Patel mentioned that he has prior experience bowling during the powerplay and he focused on delivering the ball in the optimal areas of the pitch to maximize his effectiveness.
"I have bowled in the powerplay in the past, so I had to bowl in the powerplay, that was the plan. The wicket was stopping and keeping low, so tried to bowl in the right areas. The wicket was slow, so I tried to bowl slower in this match, it worked for me. Wouldn't have worked had I bowled quicker, would have been easier for their batters," Akshar said.
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.
South Africa outclassed Afghanistan by nine wickets in the first semi-final to book their maiden place in the World Cup final.
Akshar Patel made it clear that he will cherish the Player-of-the-Match award for now rather than thinking about the final.
"Our batters told us that the wicket wasn't easy, so 160 was a good total according to us. That partnership (between Rohit and SKY) was magnificent, they scored the occasional boundaries and rotated the strike. Not thinking about Barbados at the moment, will celebrate this player of the match award first," he remarked.
