England lost their T20 World Cup title in humiliating fashion as they collapsed to a 68-run defeat to India in their semi-final tie.
All of the talk before the game was about the weather and if we would even get a game, but after a few showers, the sun was out all day in Guyana.
England won the toss and elected to field on what was a low and slow pitch, with the ball struggling to get over waist height throughout.
Jos Buttler‘s side bowled relatively well, bar a few overs, but India still reached a respectable score of 171-7, with captain Rohit Sharma to top scoring on 57.
The par score at the Guyana National Stadium is 167, so it was always going to be a tricky chase for England, although they felt they had the required firepower.
But after a decent start, Jos Buttler top-edged an Axar Patel ball straight into Rishabh Pant’s gloves to spark a collapse.
England went from 26-0 to 49-5 in the space of five overs, with Patel taking three of those wickets.
Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone rebuilt, putting on 19 runs.
But once Brook was bowled by Kuldeep Yadav, that was truly the end for the defending champions, who quickly collapsed from there to fall to a 68-run defeat as they were bowled out for a measly 103.
It means England have gone from being double white-ball champions of the world to losing both titles in under a year, and there will now surely be an inquest within the ECB.
India will face South Africa in the T20 World Cup final on Saturday in Barbados.
Speaking after the match, Buttler said: “India outplayed us, certainly. We let them maybe get 20/25 too many on a challenging surface that they played well on. They fully deserved to win.
“With the rain around, we didn’t think the conditions would change and they didn’t – they just outplayed us and got a very good score. I don’t think the toss was the difference between us.
“They’ve got some fantastic spinners. Our two bowled well, but in hindsight, yeah, probably should’ve bowled Moeen [Ali] in our innings with the way spin was playing. But with a good score and their brilliant bowling attack, it was always going to be a tough chase.
“With everything that’s happened in the tournament I’m really proud of the group’s efforts. We’ve had a lot of adversity, but we have stuck together really well, we played good cricket in patches, but unfortunately, came up short when we needed it most.”