India crush England to reach T20 World Cup final

A dominant India ended England's title defence with a 68-run thrashing in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup on Thursday, securing a spot in the final against South Africa.

India posted a strong 171-7 total in the rain-soaked match, with skipper Rohit Sharma (57) and Suryakumar Yadav (47) scoring the majority of the runs on a slow track at Guyana's Providence Stadium.

The 2007 champions then returned to dismiss England for 103 in 17 overs, with spin duo Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav wreaking havoc with the turning ball.

India and South Africa will face off in Bridgetown on Saturday, pitting the tournament's two unbeaten teams against each other.

"It's very satisfying to win this game," an elated Rohit, playing potentially his last T20 World Cup, said. "We worked really hard as a unit. To win like that was a great effort from everybody."

Rain and a wet outfield delayed the start of the match, so England captain Jos Buttler chose to field after winning the toss.

India scored 46 runs in six power-play overs, losing Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant.

Rohit started with a few streaky shots but quickly gained confidence.

Suryakumar, on the other end, scooped Chris Jordan over fine leg for a six before rain stopped play, leaving India 65-2 in eight overs.

When play resumed more than an hour later, Rohit hit a six for his 36-ball fifty, bringing India's total to 100 in the 13th over.

Adil Rashid bowled Rohit, and Jofra Archer denied Suryakumar a fifty to temporarily hold back India.

Jordan (3-37) dismissed Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube with consecutive deliveries, but India still managed to put up a competitive total.

England started quickly but were reeling at 49-5 after a top-order meltdown caused by Axar (3-23).

The left-arm spinner dismissed Buttler (23) with his first ball and bowled Jonny Bairstow for a duck in the next over.

In between, Jasprit Bumrah pegged Phil Salt's leg stump back.

Player-of-the-match Axar returned to stump Moeen Ali, before fellow spinner Kuldeep (3-19) twisted the knife on a slow pitch with the ball occasionally staying low.

The left-arm wrist spinner trapped both Sam Curran and Jordan before clean bowling Harry Brook (25) to put India firmly in control.

"India outplayed us, certainly," Buttler said. "We let them maybe get 20-25 too many on a challenging surface that they played well on. They fully deserved to win."

Under Buttler, England failed to defend their 50-overs World Cup title in India last year.

SportsLigue