India defeated England by seven runs in a thrilling, high-scoring semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 5 to book their place in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. In a game that produced 499 runs, the defending champions held their nerve in the closing stages to seal a dramatic victory and move one step closer to retaining their title.
Asked to bat first, the Men in Blue produced a batting brilliance to pile up 253/7 in their 20 overs. The innings was built around a solid knock from Sanju Samson, who smashed 89 off just 42 balls, hitting eight boundaries and seven sixes. Samson dominated the powerplay and shared a crucial 94-run stand with Ishan Kishan, who added a quickfire 39 off 18 balls. Contributions from Shivam Dube (43 off 25), Hardik Pandya (27 off 12), and Tilak Varma (21 off 7) ensured the team crossed the 250-run mark. England’s bowlers struggled on a batting-friendly surface, with Jofra Archer conceding 61 runs in his four overs.
Chasing 254, England suffered early setbacks as Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, and Harry Brook fell inside the powerplay. However, a sensational century from Jacob Bethell kept England in the hunt. Bethell hammered 105 off just 48 balls, partnering with Will Jacks for a quick partnership that brought the Three Lions back into contention.
With the chase heading towards a nail-biting finish, India’s bowlers delivered under pressure. Jasprit Bumrah bowled an economical spell at the death, while Pandya removed Bethell with a run-out in the final over to tilt the game in India’s favour. Despite late fireworks from Archer, England finished on 246/7.
India eventually held on for a narrow seven-run victory, advancing to the final where they will face New Zealand in Ahmedabad.
Who Said What?
Sanju Samson, Player of the Match
Feels really great. I knew I got some form going from the last game. I gave myself extra time and it came off nicely. I wanted to carry on. I wanted to get as much as possible. We had a great semi-final. We need to assess the conditions. We have played a lot of matches here at the Wankhede. Very happy how the team turned up today. All credit to Jasprit Bumrah. It’s an unbelievable feeling to play here at the Wankhede. You can’t actually score a hundred, it comes in the process. You just have to keep going hard. Very happy to contribute.
Suryakumar Yadav, India (Winning Captain)
Unbelievable feeling. Playing in India, leading an unbelievable side. Samson knew what he knew right when he went in. Team required it from him, it was due. I told Harry how much more do we need to score against them. They were always in the chase, but the way the bowlers pulled the game away was unbelievable. You know how capable Bumrah is. We need to give credit to T Dilip, our fielding coach. Boys are responding well. Guys have been going the extra yard, that’s showing up. Till No. 3 all is settled, as soon as we saw Rashid, Dube was the perfect match up. Was very nervous, heart rate would’ve been 160-175. The moment we entered, it was already 80% full, hope we gave the crowd a good game. Going for the title in India there will be pressure, but the players and support staff will be excited.
Harry Brook, England (Losing Captain)
We just thought there might be a little bit of hold early on with the pitch being fresh, and we expected a bit more spin in the first innings. But it didn’t quite turn out that way. Obviously, they played extremely well (on the Indian batting). All of our lads should be really proud of the way we played tonight and throughout this competition. Absolutely. I’ll hold my hands up and say that I made a big mistake there, dropping Samson. As the old saying goes, catches win matches, and unfortunately things just didn’t go our way in the field tonight. At the end of the day, it cost us. Just a bit of misexecution here and there (on the bolwing). We probably didn’t execute as well as we could have. But the Indian batters are some of the best in the world, and if you misexecute against them, the ball goes out of the park. So yeah, we probably didn’t execute as well as we could have, but like I say, we gave it a red-hot crack and unfortunately ended up on the wrong side of the result. He was absolutely unbelievable (on Jacob Bethell). I think he’s going to earn some serious money in his career and have a fantastic career with England. He showed the world how good he is tonight. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side, but that innings is a huge positive to take away from this competition. Seeing him go out there and take the game on from ball one, showing everyone what he can do, it was special. I think we had a good tournament, to be honest. Like I said earlier, we should be extremely proud of the way we played. I mentioned the other day that we’re never out of games, and that was proven again tonight. Chasing 250, other teams might have folded or crumbled away, but we stuck at it the whole game. We gave it a real go, and unfortunately we were just on the wrong side of it tonight.
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