England won the toss and elected to field first against India in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 being played at Providence Stadium, Guyana, on Thursday.
England captain Jos Buttler defended his decision of bowling first by saying with rain around, it could be an advantage.
“Looks a decent surface, everyone’s talked about the low bounce at this ground. With the rain around we hope it’s an advantage to bowl first,” Buttler said at the toss.
Both teams are going with the same playing XIs from their last match.
The toss was delayed to drizzling and wet outfield in Guyana but the ground’s staff worked hard all morning to make sure that the conditions are good enough for the match to begin.
It is worth mentioning that a reserve day was set aside for the first semi-final but not for the second one. However, to facilitate the completion of the match, the ICC allocated a total of 250 minutes of additional time for the semi-final. This will give the ground staff ample time to prepare the pitch if the weather permits.
In case the game is washed out, the team that finished higher in their Super 8 group will qualify for the final. Therefore, India are in a better position than England as they topped Super 8 Group 1 by winning all their matches, whereas England finished second with two wins out of three games.
The winner of the second semi-final between India and England will face South Africa in the final on Saturday, June 29. The Proteas beat Afghanistan in the first semi-final earlier today by nine wickets in Trinidad.
Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah
England: Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Phil Salt, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
