Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav (Screengrab) India took on England in the T20 World Cup semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, with an interesting moment before the toss when Rohit Sharma, India’s T20 World Cup 2024 captain, was seen chatting with current skipper Suryakumar Yadav. The interview caught the attention of fans and cameras just before the start of the key match.England captain Harry Brook won the toss and elected to bowl first. India captain Suryakumar Yadav said his team would also prefer to bat as he believed the pitch looked good and the conditions were suitable for batting.
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“We wanted to bat first. Semi-final, big game and there’s wind around too. Don’t think there will be much dew. It (pitch) looks good. The best. Thanks to all curators and ground staff. Same team,” Surya said at the toss.Watch Rohit Sharma’s participation IND vs ENG T20 World Cup Semi Final:Explaining England’s decision, Brook conceded that India had more experience at the ground.“We’ll bowl. It looks like a good wicket, hopefully we get off to a good start with the ball. They obviously have a lot more experience on this pitch than us. T20 cricket is such a fickle game, you never know what’s going to happen. Hopefully we can silence them (the crowd). Overton comes in for Rehan.”Looking at their path to the semi-finals, India had a mixed campaign. They started with a close win over the USA, followed by wins against the other teams in the group stage. However, they suffered a heavy defeat to South Africa in the Super-8 round before bouncing back with important wins against Zimbabwe and the West Indies to secure a place in the last four.England’s journey was also initially bumpy. They battled past Nepal, lost to the West Indies and struggled for wins over Scotland and Italy. But their form picked up at the Super-8 stage with strong wins against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand helping them become the first team to qualify for the semi-finals.At the Wankhede, England played the two earlier matches to a 1–1 draw, while India won their only match at the venue against the USA by 29 runs. Historically, the two sides are evenly matched at this venue, with England winning in 2012 and India returning the favor in 2025.
