India vs England Prediction and Betting Tips: Three selections for T20 World Cup semi-final
India and England will battle it out for a place in the final of the T20 World Cup on Thursday afternoon in Guyana.
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The match at Providence Stadium pits the pre-tournament favourites against the defending champions in a repeat of the last-four clash in Adelaide two years ago.
Jos Buttler’s team secured a landslide victory by 10 wickets on that occasion, but their inconsistent displays in the West Indies suggest this will be much tougher.
India, meanwhile, have yet to taste defeat in the tournament and won all three of their Super 8s games in some style.
India vs England Tips
Reece Topley has been an unsung hero for England since coming off the bench following the group-stage defeat to Australia.
Buttler’s team have won four of their five subsequent games with Topley setting the tone for some tidy bowling performances with his work in the powerplay overs.
The 6ft 7in left-armer has only delivered one wicket so far, but he has a good enough record against India in this format to suggest he can make a telling contribution again.
Topley has taken four wickets in two previous T20 internationals against the Men in Blue, removing Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandiya during India’s tour of England in 2022.
All three are set to form the backbone of India’s batting line-up again on Thursday and the slower, lower nature of the Guyana wicket might affect Topley less than the other quicker bowlers in Enhland’s attack.
His high release point means he can still get bounce from docile surfaces and after taking two wickets on a sticky wicket in Tarouba just before Christmas, he should know how to approach the task in hand on Thursday.
England captain Jos Buttler revealed his big-hitting heroics against the United States on Sunday were as much for himself as they were the team.
Buttler came into the tournament in terrific form after a brilliant Indian Premier League campaign and some match-winning contributions in the warm-ups.
But scores of 42, 24 not out, 0, 25 and 17 were a bit underwhelming for a player of his undoubted class.
However, his unbeaten 83 off 38 balls in England’s final Super 8s game has brought him to the boil at just the right time again.
The Lancashire Lightning star struck seven maximums in that innings and will be the man that the Indian bowlers fear the most because of his previous record against them.
Buttler has hit 21 sixes off Indian bowlers in this format with at least three maximums struck in three of his last seven T20 innings against the Men in Blue.
India have plenty of power in their batting line-up, but Suryakumar Yadav probably has the greatest innovation in his game to make an impact when the ball is not coming onto the bat.
The middle-order maestro has made two classy contributions already in the tournament with his unbeaten 50 in New York followed by a Man-of-the-Match winning knock of 53 against Afghanistan.
Currently the world-ranked No.2 batter in this format, Yadav has made 274 runs in seven innings against England with an average of 45.66 and a strike rate of 191.6.
His record of 30 fours in six previous matches against England puts him ahead of Virat Kohli (3.05), Rohit Sharma (3.07) and Rishabh Pant (2.13) in terms of average per match.
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