Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 6 (ANI): Suryakumar Yadav's childhood cricket coach Ashok Aswalkar and Kuldeep Yadav's childhood coach Kapil Pandey highlighted India's struggles with the ball against England in the T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal on Thursday. Even though India secured the victory, the Men in Blue's bowling attack, apart from Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel, struggled big time to control the run flow, allowing England to come very close to India's massive 254-run target.
Defending champions India, captained by Suryakumar Yadav, defeated England by seven runs in a high-scoring thriller to book their place in the final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 against New Zealand.
A blistering 89 off 42 balls from Sanju Samson laid the foundation for India's huge total of 253/7 in the first innings. However, England stayed in contention for most of the chase thanks to a brilliant century by Jacob Bethell.
In the end it was the brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah that proved to be the differentiating moment as India eventually won the match by a slim seven-run margin.
Speaking to ANI, Suryakumar Yadav's childhood coach, Ashok Aswalkar, said that despite reaching the final, India's bowling was weak even after posting 253 runs. He emphasised the need for new strategies and changes for the upcoming match against New Zealand, suggesting replacing Varun Chakravarthy with Kuldeep Yadav due to the former's recent poor performances.
"We reached the final. But if we look at the overall situation, even after scoring 253, we weren't confident that we would win the match. We bowled so poorly today, so in the upcoming match against New Zealand, we'll have to come up with some new planning; only then will the match be won. Instead of improving, we'll have to make some changes. If we're seeing Varun Chakravarthy bowling poorly for the last three or four matches, we'll have to replace him with Kuldeep Yadav," he said.
Kuldeep Yadav's childhood coach, Kapil Pandey, said that India's win over England was impressive, with strong batting performances from Sanju Samson, Tilak, and Hardik helping them reach 253. However, he noted that the bowling was weak, and as a result, the team managed to win by just 7 runs.
"This is a big win. Many people were saying that the host team does not reach the finals but our team showcased an excellent performance under the guidance of Suryakumar Yadav to register a win over England. Sanju Samson gave a wonderful start with the bat and contributions from Tilak and Hardik also helped the team to score 253 runs. I didn't expect England to bat the way they batted. Our bowling was very weak and we only won the match by 7 runs," Kapil Pandey said.
Put to bat first, a fiery knock from Sanju Samson (89* in 42 balls, with eight fours and seven sixes) and cameos from Shivam Dube (43 in 25 balls, with a four and four sixes), Ishan Kishan (39 in 18 balls, with four boundaries), Hardik Pandya (27 in 12 balls, with three fours and two sixes) and Tilak Varma (21 in seven balls, with three sixes) took India to 253/7 in 20 overs.
Despite having England down at 95/4, India could not dominate them as Jacob Bethell (105 in 48 balls, with eight fours and seven sixes) and Will Jacks (35 in 20 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) put a counter-attacking 77-run stand for the fifth wicket.
With England appearing to be on course for victory, the match's turning point came when Jasprit Bumrah delivered a brilliant 18th over, conceding just six runs while England needed 45 from the final three overs at the start of it. Following his effort, Hardik Pandya further tightened the pressure with an excellent penultimate over, giving away only nine runs and dismissing Sam Curran.
While Bethell continued to march on and a fiery four-ball cameo of 19 from Jofra Archer took England really close, England ended seven runs short of India's target, at 246/7.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah (1/33 in 4 overs), Axar Patel (1/35 in 3 overs) amd Hardik Pandya (2/38 in 4 overs) were the standout performers with the ball.
The final is set to take place in Ahmedabad, where India will look to continue their impressive run and secure another major ICC title by defeating New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium on March 8. (ANI)