Two tournament favorites India and England will face off each other in the blockbuster semi-final of the Twenty20 World Cup at the Adelaide Oval Thursday.
It will be a fascinating battle between the power-hitters as both the teams have plenty of superstars in their batting line-up to turn this game into one of the most entertaining matches of the tournament.
England have Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Liam Livingstone, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali in their ranks while India boast KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya in their batting armory and all superstars from both teams are big presences in T20 cricket.
England revolutionized white-ball cricket since their ODI World Cup exit in 2015 and established their own brand of all-out attack batting approach in the last few years, which brought them the 50-over World Cup crown back in 2019.
Their resurgence started after their 2015 exit at this very ground, Adelaide Oval, and that loss came against Bangladesh.
Moeen, Hales, Buttler and Chris Jordan are the survivors from that World Cup squad.
England captain Buttler said the team recalled that defining moment, which preceded English cricket's transformation in following years.
“We were actually just talking about that in the dressing room, a few of us were there. Anytime you go back to certain grounds there's some moments or memories that are not always good ones, unfortunately," said wicketkeeper-batter Buttler in the pre-match press conference in Adelaide Wednesday.
“But yeah, absolutely, I think it's been clear to see the change in sort of mindset in English cricket towards the white-ball game since that match (against Bangladesh in Adelaide in 2015 World Cup) went that way and especially the way we've played. That way has given us better results, so that gives us a lot of trust in that process that it works.
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“It's been a fantastic journey to be involved in. It was a real line in the sand, I would say, that moment in English white-ball cricket, and to be now into a semi-final and going to tournaments with a level of expectation that we should perform well, is a great place to be as a team,” he added.
India won two T20 International series against England home and away in the past one year which may give them the upper hand, but the men in blue are cautious about the opponents and aiming to play their best cricket in order to book the final berth at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
“We just need to start fresh and think about (Thursday) with a fresh mind. We can't go into the game thinking that we've beaten this guy or beaten this team and it can happen again just like that. We do understand we need to play well to win the game,” said Indian skipper Rohit.
“These guys are quite dangerous. They've played some really good cricket in the tournament, as well, which is why they're here. So we've got to be at our best to win the game,” he added.
England have not played at Adelaide Oval in this tournament but India faced Bangladesh here and the ground has shorter boundaries in some corners, which could be an important factor for batsmen to adjust.
The game will be played on a used pitch so the toss could be a deciding factor.
Weather forecast in Adelaide predicts slight rain in the evening, which may impact the game.
The semi-final however, has a reserve day if the rain plays foul Thursday.
Whatever the result may be, it promises to be a scintillating and thrilling contest in Adelaide between bat and ball among two of the strongest T20I batting line-ups.
