England’s effort in last night’s T20 World Cup semi-final against India was something we have not seen for a while.
After being bowled out for 110 in the first innings of the Melbourne Ashes Test earlier this summer, few England supporters would have predicted a night like this in Mumbai.
At the Wankhede Stadium, England won the toss and elected to bowl first.
What followed initially looked like it might be a very long evening.
India piled on a formidable 253-7 and, I will admit, I nearly switched off.
To put England’s response into perspective, their 246-7 now stands as the fourth-highest T20I total in their history.
Their highest remains 304-2 against South Africa in September 2025 when Phil Salt blasted 141 not out, Jos Buttler hammered 83 from just 30 balls and Harry Brook added a quick 41.
Second on the list is 267-3 against the West Indies in December 2023.
Once again Salt produced the magic with 119, Buttler chipped in with 55 and Liam Livingstone smashed 54.
Third comes 248-3 against the West Indies, where Ben Duckett scored 84, Jamie Smith added 60 and both Brook and Jacob Bethell finished unbeaten in the thirties.
There is one thing those three innings have in common.
England won all of them.
They beat South Africa by 146 runs and the West Indies by 75 runs and 37 runs respectively.
Which is what made Thursday night so unusual.
England racked up 246 in the chase and still lost by seven runs.
India’s innings was built around a classy 89 from Sanju Samson, who was eventually caught by Salt off Will Jacks.
Ishan Kishan chipped in with 39 and Shivam Dube added 43 as India closed on 253-7, their sixth-highest T20 international total.
England needed something special in reply.
This time Salt was not the hero, falling for five after being caught by Axar Patel off Hardik Pandya.
Buttler added 25 and Brook managed just seven before Jacob Bethell arrived at the crease.
The 22-year-old batted with the kind of freedom that makes T20 cricket so watchable.
The required rate was steep but never completely out of sight while he was there.
Boundaries kept coming, the crowd quietened a little and the possibility of something ridiculous began to creep into the contest.
For a few overs, England looked like they might just pull it off.
The turning point came late in the chase with England still needing 29 from the final five balls.
Bethell pushed for a second run, threw himself towards the crease and lost grip of his bat as he dived, leaving it sliding away across the pitch behind him as the bails came off.
It was a desperate moment in a desperate chase.
Was it the moment England lost the game? Possibly.
But when your target is 254, there are usually a dozen moments you could point to instead.
What it should not overshadow is the innings itself.
Bethell’s 105 from 48 balls was the fastest century of his professional career and made him the youngest England player to score centuries in all three international formats.
He also becomes the first England men’s player to score a century in both the Ashes and a T20I, which sounds unlikely until you remember how different those formats really are.
His centuries across formats now make for a remarkable set of numbers.
There was 154 in the Sydney Ashes Test this summer from 265 balls, his first ODI hundred of 110 against South Africa from 82 balls and now this World Cup semi-final century from just 48 deliveries.
Even Sanju Samson admitted England had them thinking for a while.
“T20 cricket is going somewhere else, no one can understand.
We knew they would go hard at us in the powerplay but when three wickets fell in that phase I thought the game was in our control.
But the way Bethell batted I felt it was still possible.
They needed 13 runs an over and were getting two boundaries every over.
It was getting very easy for them in the middle overs.”
Sanju Samson
England head coach Brendon McCullum was equally proud despite the defeat.
“Chasing in excess of 250 on a ground like this where you have got total Indian support, the toughness of the lads to still believe and take the game as close as they did, I am incredibly proud.”
Brendon McCullum
India now move on to the T20 World Cup final where they will face New Zealand on 09 March, starting at 12.30am Aussie time.
England may be heading home, but for a while in Mumbai they turned what looked like a lost cause into one of the most entertaining chases of the tournament.
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