Summary of this article
India posted a mammoth total of 253/7 batting first against England
They were put in to bat first by England in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 second semi-final
Sanju Samson was the highest scorer of the innings
India produces an explosive batting display at the Wankhede Stadium against England in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 second semi-final on Thursday (March 05) as they post a total of 253/7 in 20 overs batting first.
England won the toss and put them to bat first. Considering dew would come later in the evening, India were looking to get off to an explosive start. They found it as Sanju Samson picked up from the same stage he left off in the match against West Indies. He demolished the England bowlers in the powerplay and helped the hosts get off to an explosive start.
England got the first breakthrough when they introduced Will Jacks to dismiss Abhishek Sharma. The match-up worked and England got their opening wicket. Jofra Archer also got the better of Sanju Samson, but Harry Brook dropped his catch his mid-on and that changed the flow of the game completely. Samson went in a carnage after that alongside Ishan Kishan by his side and India raced off to 119/2 in the first 10 overs.
The platform was set and India kept going hard on the England bowlers. Rashid dismissed Kishan (39 off 18), but Shivam Dube joined in and started taking down the spinners. He scored a quickfire 43 runs in 25 deliveries and kept the momentum going before getting run-out. Samson's juggernaut was finally stopped by Adil Rashid when he foxed him to hit to the deep fielder in the off-side while batting of 89 off just 42 deliveries.
Later, Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma provided a strong finish to the innings by scoring 12-ball 27 and 7-ball 21 respectively. Their finishing blow helped India get to a mammoth 253/7, making it the 4th highest total in the competition's history. Adil Rashid and Will Jacks scalped two wickets each while Jofra Archer's expensive spell costed him 61 runs in exchange of only 1 wicket.
England will have to produce their best game to even come near chasing down the total set by India against a quality bowling side consisting of Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh.
