Mumbai, March 5 – Sanju Samson's brilliant innings of 50 and Jasprit Bumrah's exceptional bowling helped India defeat England by seven runs, securing a place in the T20 World Cup final.
Sanju Samson (89 off 42 balls) overcame Jofra Archer's challenge through luck, contributing to India's mammoth score of 253 for seven, the highest total in a knockout game in the tournament's history.
While Wankhede offered a good batting surface, Jacob Bethell (105 off 48 balls) led England's fightback with a century after they lost three wickets in the powerplay for 68 runs.
Bumrah's crucial contribution (1/33 in 4 overs) in the final overs allowed India to restrict England to 246/7 in 20 overs.
India will now face New Zealand in the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Tom Banton (17 off 5 balls) was the fourth wicket to fall, but England continued to score runs, reaching 119 for four at the halfway stage, equaling India's score after 10 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy struggled to find his rhythm, leaking 64 runs in his four overs.
Bumrah had dismissed Harry Brook in the powerplay with a slower ball, and Axar Patel made a sensational catch to dismiss Brook.
With Will Jacks (35 off 20) and Bethell in good form, Axar made another brilliant fielding effort, ending Jacks' innings and completing a 77-run stand in 39 balls.
Curran joined Bethell, bringing the target down to 45 off the last three overs, forcing Suryakumar Yadav to bring Bumrah back into the attack.
Bumrah delivered again, conceding only six runs. With Arshdeep and Bumrah unavailable, Shivam Dube was tasked with defending 30 in the final over.
England's chances ended with a heartbreaking run-out of Bethell, who played a memorable innings.
Samson overcomes Archer with luck
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After single-handedly taking India to the semifinals, a supremely confident Samson (89) bludgeoned the England bowling attack, including Archer, who had dominated against the Indian opener in the previous bilateral series.
Having lost the toss at a ground with short boundaries, India had to set a big target, and Samson helped them achieve this after being dropped by Harry Brook on 15 off Archer in the third over.
England had already dismissed Abhishek Sharma in the previous over, and a Samson dismissal would have put India under pressure, but Brook dropped a sitter at mid-on, leaving Archer in disbelief.
That was all the luck Samson needed to dominate, smashing seven sixes and eight fours in his innings.
Samson, who had been dismissed three times by Archer last year when he struggled against short balls, subdued the England pace spearhead with a flurry of pull shots.
He quickly found his length, and Archer's opening spell of two overs was too short.
Samson's first maximum came via a pull over fine leg, and he then dispatched a slower ball from the pacer over deep mid-wicket for another six.
Samson shared a 97-run stand with Ishan Kishan (39 off 19 balls), who also hit boundaries against an errant England bowling line-up. India raced to 67 for one in the powerplay and maintained the momentum to reach 119 for two in 10 overs.
Shivam Dube (43 off 25 balls) was promoted to number four to maintain the left-right combination after Kishan's dismissal.
Samson continued to dominate against bowlers like Curran and Jamie Overton.
Archer returned for his second spell, but Samson continued to hammer him. The opener smashed him for a six over backward point before smoking another maximum over long-off.
Archer ended up conceding 61 runs in four overs, with Tilak Varma adding 21 off 7 balls in the 19th over.
England went with Jacks in the final over, and Hardik Pandya (27 off 12 balls) put him under pressure with two sixes. The last five overs yielded 76 runs, pushing India to an above-par total.
