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Following his side's semifinal qualification in T20 World Cup after win over West Indies in must-win Super Eight clash, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir spoke on challenge of facing England in semifinal clash at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, pointing out that England is a world-class team and it would need a "special effort" to beat them.
Team India on Sunday sealed their spot in their sixth ICC T20 World Cup semifinal, with Sanju Samson's 97* in 50 balls sealing a run chase of 196 runs against two-time champions West Indies at Eden Gardens. The clash against England at Wankhede on Thursday will be a tough one, despite the top-order of Phil Salt and Jos Buttler not being in form, as their skipper Harry Brook, all-rounder Will Jacks and the entire bowling attack have put in amazing performances to take them to the final four. Whoever wins reaches the final to battle South Africa or New Zealand for a record-breaking third T20WC title. For India, it would be even more special as they are just two games away from becoming the first team to defend the T20WC at home. Speaking on the England challenge during the post-match presser, Gambhir said, "They are a world-class team, they are a quality team, they have got a lot of quality players as well and we all know that Wankhede is a tough venue and hopefully I think we can turn up and see that again another opportunity to do something special for the team for the country as well and hopefully we play a best game as well that is going to be very important and hopefully we can keep ticking all the boxes which is going to be important because we will need a special effort to beat a quality side like England." Coming to the Sunday match, India won the toss and elected to field first. Roston Chase (40 in 25 balls, with five fours and a six) and skipper Shai Hope (32 in 33 balls, with three fours and a six) put on an opening stand of 68 runs for first wicket, but WI slipped to 119/4 in 14.1 overs, despite a fiery cameo by Shimron Hetmyer (27 in 12 balls, with a four and two sixes). It was the pair of Jason Holder (37* in 22 balls, with two fours and three sixes) and Powell (34* in 19 balls, with three fours and two sixes) who put on a fiery stand of 76 runs in 35 balls, taking WI to 195/4 in 20 overs. Jasprit Bumrah (2/36 in four overs) was India's leading bowler, with Varun Chakaravarthy and Hardik Pandya dropping a spell of 1/40 in four overs each. In the run-chase, India was reduced to 41/2 within the powerplay. It was a 58-run stand between Samson and Suryakumar Yadav (18), which brought the chase back on track. Then Sanju went on to stitch partnerships with Tilak Varma (27 in 15 balls, with four boundaries and a six), Hardik Pandya (17) and Shivam Dube (8*), taking India to a five-wicket win. (ANI)
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