India's former captain Rahul Dravid was seen consoling a visibly dejected Virat Kohli in the dressing room after Kohli's dismissal for just 9 runs during the T20 World Cup 2024 semifinal against England. Kohli's struggle in the ICC tournament continued as he failed to leave a mark in the match held at Providence Stadium.
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Kohli's early exit came in the third over of the contest when he attempted an aggressive shot against Reece Topley, only to be bowled by a length ball that clipped the top of his leg stump. His departure dealt a significant blow to the Indian team, losing its first wicket with just 19 runs on the board.
Kohli, who had taken on the opening role in this major tournament, has been far from his best throughout the T20 World Cup in finding the right balance between aggression and stability. Despite showing glimpses of his prowess with a six off a fuller-length delivery from Topley earlier in the innings, Kohli's attempt to replicate the shot in the same over led to his downfall. This match marked the first instance where Kohli failed to score a fifty in a T20 World Cup semifinal.
England won the toss and elected to field first against an unbeaten India. Both teams remained unchanged for the crucial knockout match.
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"We'll bowl first," England captain Jos Buttler said at the toss. "The surface looks good, and with the rain around, we think bowling first is an advantage. We're up against a great team, but we're peaking nicely. We're playing the same team today and looking forward to the challenge."
Rohit Sharma noted, "We would have batted first, but the weather looks good now. We wanted to put runs on the board. The pitch tends to slow down as the game progresses. It's important to play good cricket and stay in the moment. Same team for us."
England Playing XI: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (w/c), Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah.
The winner of this semi-final will face South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2024 final on Saturday in Barbados.
