Six sixes for Yuvraj, and the Jadeja crawl – India-England at the T20 World Cup down the years

India is set to play England in the semi-final of T20 World Cup 2024

When they face off against England in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup at the Providence Stadium in Guyana, India will have mixed memories of previous encounters against those with the three-lions emblem on their chests. The head-to-head record across previous T20 World Cups is 2-2, though most fans will only recall the 10-wicket thrashing that Jos Buttler and company gave India in the Adelaide semi-final in November 2022. Here, we look back at those meetings, including the game that reestablished Yuvraj Singh as one of Indian cricket’s pin-up boys.

Durban, 2007

With Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag both scoring half-centuries, India were already on course for a competitive total when Yuvraj walked in with the scoreboard showing 155-3 after 16.4 overs. Yuvraj started brightly, with a cover-driven four off the second ball he faced from Chris Tremlett, but it was Andrew Flintoff’s 18th over that would light the fuse. The second of two fours that Yuvraj hit was a hook that landed in between two boundary fielders. Flintoff had plenty to say at the end of the over, and an incensed Yuvraj then proceeded to take out his ire on the hapless, young Stuart Broad. Cow corner. Backward square leg. Deep cover. Backward point. Midwicket. Wide long-on. The wagon wheel for the over described a pretty big arc. Six sixes, and he added another off Flintoff for good measure. By the time he was caught at long-on off the penultimate ball, Yuvraj had smashed 58 off 16 balls. India would go on to win by 20 runs.

Lord’s, 2009

A target of 154 was eminently chaseable, but when India lost two early wickets, MS Dhoni and Gary Kirsten made the bizarre decision to send Ravindra Jadeja, a 20-year-old playing his third game, in at No. 4. Jadeja couldn’t rotate the strike, and could hit just one four in a scratchy 35-ball 25. The immense middle-order firepower – Yuvraj, Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan – was wasted as India lost by three runs. The trio made 80 from just 46 balls, but Jadeja’s crawl had left them too much to do.

Colombo, 2012

This was a rout. Graeme Swann’s tidy spell of 1-17 had hinted at a tacky, two-paced surface, and India needed Rohit Sharma’s brisk 33-ball 55 to get to 170-4. As it turned out, that was more than enough. Irfan Pathan made the early incisions, before Piyush Chawla flummoxed both Jonny Bairstow and Craig Kieswetter, whose 35 was the only score over 11. Harbhajan Singh, with 4-12 from his four overs, did the rest as England were skittled for just 80.

Adelaide, 2022

This is still an open wound for many Indian fans. With Rohit struggling for fluency and Virat Kohli dropping anchor, India’s innings had no momentum at all until Hardik Pandya came out and smacked it to all parts while making a 33-ball 63. Pandya’s blitz showed how good the pitch was, and with no Jasprit Bumrah in the Indian XI, England screeched past the target of 169 in 16 overs. Only Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel escaped an absolute caning as Buttler and Alex Hales clubbed 13 fours and ten sixes between them. India’s outdated batting approach had come a cropper against new-age England.

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