Four semi-finalists: World No.1s, unbeaten runs, and hopeful first-timers

Four: The T20 World Cup semi-finals begin on Wednesday. We’ll break down the four teams here. We have our semi-finalists after 42 games.

The world’s top two teams, England and Pakistan, topped their respective groups, with the latter remaining the only unbeaten team.

Antipodeans Australia and New Zealand will join them in the semi-finals, each looking to win the Men’s T20 World Cup for the first time.

• England takes against New Zealand in the first semi-final on November 10 in Abu Dhabi.
• Pakistan will face Australia in the second semi-final on November 11 in Dubai.

Here, we take a look at the four teams who have advanced to the tournament’s knockout stage:

GROUP 1 SEMI-FINALISTS

ENGLAND

England began their campaign in spectacular fashion, bowling the West Indies out for 55 and chasing it down in just 8.2 overs for a crushing first win that ultimately made the difference in net run rate, allowing them to advance to the next round at the top of their group. Moeen Ali set the tone with two early wickets, but it was Adil Rashid, his fellow spinner, who returned the best figures – four wickets for two runs in 2.2 overs.

Bangladesh was the next to fall victim to England’s onslaught, with Ali taking another three wickets before Jason Roy smashed a quickfire 61 in an easy chase. And Jos Buttler’s 71 made light work of a 126-run chase against Australia, with England reaching the target in just 11.4 overs.

The massive NRR advantage established by those three crushing victories gave England a great chance of progressing as they entered the final two matches of their Super 12 campaign. But, despite Buttler’s brilliant century, they were made to work hard in Sharjah, with Sri Lanka pushing them close.

Despite both teams and Australia finishing tied on eight points, England’s loss to South Africa in the final group game did not cost them first place, with that positive NRR doing its job in the end.

AUSTRALIA

The final-over victory over South Africa at the start of the Super 12 stage felt important at the time, and it proved to be so, with the five-wicket victory trying to prove crucial.

Aaron Finch’s side easily defeated Sri Lanka in match two, with David Warner and the skipper showing with the bat.

However, a crushing loss to England in the third round put Australia under a lot of strain in the qualification race. It wasn’t only the fact that England lost by eight wickets; it was also the fact that they chased down 126 with 50 balls remaining, badly affecting the net run rate scenario heading into the next two rounds.

Thankfully for Australia, the NRR damage was just temporary, as they knocked Bangladesh out for 73 in their following match. Finch, Warner, and Marsh chased it down in just 38 balls, more than compensating for England’s run rate losses.

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GROUP 2 SEMI-FINALISTS

PAKISTAN

The tone for Pakistan’s campaign was set in the competition’s first over. Shaheen Afridi had envisioned dismissing India’s top three batters. And he got two of them in his first spell when he was nearly unplayable. A yorker trapped Rohit Sharma lbw, while one came into KL Rahul and bowled him. He then returned to have Virat Kohli caught behind. Just as the India captain was about to strike at the death.

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan chased down the target. An unbroken opening stand after a strong bowling performance kept India to 151/7.

NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand’s T20 World Cup campaign got off to a shaky start when they were defeated by Pakistan by five wickets in their first match. Just as when Pakistan defeated India, the nature of the defeat called into question New Zealand’s credentials as a contender.

They quickly put those doubts to rest by having defeated. India by eight wickets as their all-star attack destroyed a highly regarded batting order. Trent Boult did the majority of the damage, limiting India to 110 runs. Which the Kiwis chased down with 5 and a half overs remaining.

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