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India captain Rohit Sharma lavished praise on the gun spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel for the spectacle they produced in the semi-final of the ongoing T20 World Cup against England in Guyana.
After Jos Buttler smacked away Arshdeep Singh for three boundaries in the third over, Axar Patel turned the tide on his first delivery of the match.
Axar removed England captain Jos Buttler (23) by going away from his usual style of skidding the ball and decided to spin it. The English skipper tried to counterattack with a reverse sweep. He bottomed it straight to Rishabh Pant behind the stumps.
He continued to cause English batters a handful of trouble, and Kuldeep came in to increase their woes.
Axar removed the opening order and starred with his influential spell of 3/23. Kuldeep provided the ideal support by fending off the middle-order and ending with the figures of 3/19.
Rohit heaped praise on the left-arm spin duo while revealing the plan of action that they adopted to take the brunt of England's aggressive nature.
"They (Axar and Kuldeep) are gun spinners. When the conditions like that are in front of them, It's difficult to play some shots. The pressure is on them as well to come and execute those balls, but they were calm and knew what to bowl. We had a little chat after the first innings - try and hit the stumps as much as possible, keep the stumps in play," Rohit said in the post-match presentation.
The spinners caused the majority of the damage, and Jasprit Bumrah came in to add icing on the cake. England, who came out to recreate another spitting image of the 2022 World Cup semi-final, fell short and saw their title defence crumble.
The double nature of the pitch didn't help England's cause during the chase of 172. A couple of deliveries stayed low, while some took flight after touching the surface.
Rohit, satisfied with the win, emphasized the need to adapt to the challenging conditions that laid the foundation for their first appearance in the final after ten years.