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India 253 for 7 (Samson 89, Dube 43, Kishan 39, Jacks 2-40, Rashid 2-41) beat England 246 for 7 (Bethell 105, Jacks 35, Hardik 2-38) by seven runsOn a night of pulsating drama, studded with 499 runs in 40 overs, including 34 sixes, India sealed their progression to Sunday’s T20 World Cup final, thanks to Sanju Samson’s second defining knock in as many matches, and a display of targeted magnificence from the inevitable Jasprit Bumrah. But to do so, they had to withstand an innings for the ages from the precocious Jacob Bethell, whose 105 from 48 balls kept England swinging for the fences in a heroically thwarted chase in Mumbai.Set an unearthly 254 to win, after Samson had backed up his crucial 97 not out against West Indies with another mighty innings of 89 from 42, England lost three wickets in the powerplay, and eventually drifted out of contention as India’s seamers held their nerve in the death overs to leave an improbable requirement of 30 from the final over.In the final analysis, however, it was the fine margins in the field that made the key difference. Where Harry Brook dropped an utter clanger in the third over of the match, to reprieve Samson on 15 and leave his hapless bowler, Jofra Archer, winded and mojo-less, India’s defence turned on two stunning pieces of work from Axar Patel in the deep.The first, at deep cover, showed Brook how it’s done, as England’s likeliest matchwinner was extracted for just 7 from six; the second, at deep backward point, was an incredible running relay effort to intercept an uppercut from England’s Player of the Tournament, Will Jacks, whose 77-run stand for the fifth wicket with Bethell had given England a strong chance as they approached the final six overs.Brook’s blunder signals India’s chargeSuryakumar Yadav said he would have batted first had he won the toss, which sounded like a bluff, given how compellingly the stats warned against it. No team had batted first and won a floodlight knockout at the T20 World Cup for 13 consecutive matches, since Sri Lanka’s victory over West Indies in their 2014 semi-final.Sanju Samson walks off after making 89 off 42•AFP/Getty ImagesBy the end of a 67-run powerplay, however, the inevitable was already charging into view. Samson had come into the contest with an unfavourable match-up against Archer – three dismissals for 23 in 25 previous deliveries in T20Is – but he also had the momentum of his match-winning knock at the weekend. He scarcely needed a helping hand to send his innings into overdrive.Brook offered it nonetheless. It is hard to conceive of a more costly drop than the one England’s captain committed at mid-on in Archer’s second over. Samson had already cashed in on his shorter length, with two fours and a six in his first six balls, when Archer aimed a yard fuller and induced a scuffed drive at throat height. It was a dolly by any measure, and Brook’s face was a picture of guilt – first as the ball burst through his fingers, and then when Samson bludgeoned Archer high over the leg side two balls later.At least Abhishek Sharma’s fallow campaign had been extended by that point – with Jacks trading two thumped fours for a miscue to deep midwicket in his opening over. It meant that England were spared a direct re-run of their previous bowl-first ordeal at the Wankhede, 13 months earlier, though the lessons of that night scarcely seemed to have been heeded.Shivam Dube was promoted to No. 4 and responded with a 25-ball 43•AFP/Getty ImagesFull steam through the middleArcher retreated with figures of 0 for 26 in two overs, to be replaced by Jamie Overton, who strayed far too full throughout his night’s work, and then by Sam Curran, whose change-ups could not stem the tide either. Samson was too well set to be suckered by the moon-ball, which he duly plonked over the head of mid-off.The second most culpable moment of England’s fielding effort, however, was still to come. With two run-hungry batters itching to hit the spin, Liam Dawson’s introduction for the eighth over felt like a plan with too many drawbacks. Ishan Kishan and Samson duly traded a six apiece in a 19-run demolition, and for the first time in his T20I career, Dawson was effectively rendered unusable.The gloves were off from that point on. Curran returned for a change of ends but was subjected to a 20-run tag-teaming, and at 112 for 1 after nine overs, jeopardy had left the building for India’s batters. Kishan flogged one last boundary before miscuing Adil Rashid to long-off for 39 from 18, but out strode Shivam Dube to exact revenge with two huge strikes over long-on in the legspinner’s third over.Archer’s return for a rare mid-innings foray telegraphed England’s desperation. But Samson, similarly, had eyes only for the boundary, and none on impending milestones. He continued to accelerate into his night, marching into the 80s with two more sixes to take his personal haul to seven, before that man Jacks lobbed a wide length ball across his bows to induce a miscue to deep cover. Since the start of India’s must-win in Kolkata on Sunday night, Samson had battered the small matter of 186 runs from 92 balls.Death-overs frenzyThe only moment of genuine traction for England came in the 18th over, as Curran closed out his tough night with an excellent array of yorkers. And yet, he still went for 12, as Dube clubbed his fourth six before being sold a dummy by Hardik Pandya… who then lost control of his bat in a slog through the line, only for Tom Banton to spill the resultant chance at long-on.Archer’s final over wasn’t anything like the same quality. He retreated with gruesome figures of 1 for 61, as Tilak Varma slotted three sixes in four balls before inside-edging onto his stumps for the most pyrrhic wicket of the night. Thereafter, Hardik was able to farm the strike for his favourable match-up with Jacks, belting two last sixes over the leg side to romp India past 250.Bumrah up the sleeveThe good news for England was that Phil Salt flicked their first ball of the chase through fine leg for four, and that Jos Buttler also found the boundary for the first time in six innings, with an emphatic thump over the covers two balls later.Harry Brook’s wicket was as much Axar Patel’s as it was Jasprit Bumrah’s•AFP/Getty ImagesThe bad news for England was that the bowler on the receiving end was not Jasprit Bumrah, but Arshdeep Singh. India had given themselves licence to keep their most deadly weapon in reserve, and see what lumps they could extract before his deployment. Hardik duly obliged with a first-ball outswinger that Salt could only skew to cover, to end his fallow campaign with 5 from three balls.Bumrah’s eventual entry, for the fifth over, produced a moment of poetry. A first-ball cutter suckered Brook straight out of the hand as he skied the ball high out to extra cover, but if that was good, then the snapping of the trap was even better, as Axar tracked back from the edge of the ring and clung on with a full-length dive, looking over his shoulder.Back Bumrah went, up Suryakumar’s sleeve, not to be seen again until the 11th over, and then hidden again until the 16th, by which point an eight-run over was gold-dust. His pinpoint dot-ball yorker to Curran was greeted with one of the loudest cheers of an already raucous night.Such was England’s refusal to buckle, however, that with 45 still needed from 18, Bumrah had to go again. A barrage of perfect yorkers offered up just four singles and a two, to leave England needing back-to-back 20-run overs. That was the game, there and then.Jacob Bethell hit a 45-ball 100 in the chase•Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty ImagesBethell at the doubleBumrah’s extraction of Brook had been a perfectly targeted strike, but Bethell strode out with a refusal to be overawed. He silenced the Wankhede’s “Boom Boom” chants with a second-ball swivel-pull for six over fine leg, and then greeted Varun Chakravarthy with three more in a row, over long-on, long-off and deep third, as if to plant his 360-degree versatility like a flag.In the same over, however, England lost their third powerplay wicket, and another of their kingpins. Buttler’s ugly campaign had flirted with resuscitation even as he kept losing his shape on a succession of heaves across the line. However, for the third Wankhede innings in a row, he reached the 20s at a 150 strike rate and then immediately gave it away, this time to a flat-footed waft across Varun’s googly.Astonishingly, England still emerged from the powerplay one run to the good – 68 to 67 – but at three wickets down, it was already a clear race between runs required and wickets standing. Banton got the memo by drilling Axar’s first two deliveries down the ground for sixes before ruining the moment by slogging over the top of a more flighted follow-up, but Bethell took further lumps out of Varun’s figures with back-to-back fours to bring up England’s hundred in the ninth over.His maiden Test century in Sydney had been an astonishing display of precocity and shot selection; this awesome effort was everything that he had forsaken to produce that innings and more. The self-sacrifice he had shown in his judgment outside off in January was translated into a full repertoire of 360-degree strokeplay. Until his ODI hundred against South Africa last summer, he had never previously made a professional century. Now, he has joined an exclusive club with three figures in all three formats. One thing is for sure, this won’t be the last the Wankhede crowd will see of him.Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
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