Bethell’s century goes in vain, India beat England by 7 runs, qualify for final

Mumbai: In the second semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup, India defeated England by 7 runs in a thrilling contest to qualify for the final.

England’s Bethell played an aggressive innings and scored a magnificent century, but he could not lead his team to victory. Bethell scored 105 runs and was run out in the final over.

Among the other England batters, Will Jacks scored 35, Jos Buttler made 25, Sam Curran added 18, captain Harry Brook scored 7, and Phil Salt managed 5 runs.

For India, Hardik Pandya took 2 wickets, while Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, and Varun Chakravarthy claimed one wicket each.

Earlier, England won the toss and decided to bowl first, a decision that ultimately did not prove successful.

India scored 253 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. After being dropped on 15, Indian batter Sanju Samson went on to play a superb innings of 89 runs.

Other contributors included Shivam Dube with 43 runs, Ishan Kishan with 39, Suryakumar Yadav with 11, Hardik Pandya with 27, and Tilak Varma with 21 runs. For England, Will Jacks and Adil Rashid picked up two wickets each.

It is worth mentioning that in the first semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup, New Zealand defeated South Africa to qualify for the final.

The T20 World Cup 2026 final will be played on Sunday in Ahmedabad.