Abhishek Sharma or Phil Salt: Who will be the X-factor in India vs England semifinal?

After an uncharacteristic win by New Zealand in the semifinal against South Africa—the Kiwis usually win by playing smart cricket and not making mistakes, as opposed to the madness of a 33-ball hundred by Finn Allen—the T20 World Cup moves to the second semifinal: India vs England at the Wankhede.

Neither team has had a smooth ride into the knockouts, especially England, who had tough days out against Nepal and Italy, and lost to the West Indies in the earlier stages.

India, too, have not looked like the near-invincible team they were heading into the World Cup, and have had hiccups against the US (they were 77/6 at one point) and also lost to South Africa by 76 runs.

Wobbly campaigns aside, the thing both India and England have in common is that their biggest threat has not come off in the World Cup. Given his form, Abhishek Sharma should have been the one to play that Finn Allen knock. He has defined this new era of Indian T20I batting after the previous World Cup triumph, and has scored 1,377 runs at a strike rate of 189.4. It was closer to 200 before this tournament started.

Sharma is the prototype of the future T20 batter—attacking from ball one. Expect some other teams to go this way soon. But a flu had him down just before the World Cup, and his returns have been lacklustre. He started the tournament with three ducks, and his best innings has been the 30-ball 55 (slow by his standards) against Zimbabwe.

In his absence, the others have stepped up, one at a time, be it captain Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan or Sanju Samson.

Likewise, Phil Salt has been flavourless for most of the tournament. The destructive opener had also been England’s most consistent batter over the past year, proving his mettle across franchise leagues and international cricket. He was a key part of the winning RCB campaign last year and had also scored 141* (the highest by an Englishman in a T20I) against South Africa in September.

In the past year, before the World Cup, he had scored 394 runs in nine matches, at an average of 56.28 and a strike rate of 173.56. In the tournament though, Salt has scored only 125 runs at an average of 17.85 and a strike rate of 158.22. It didn’t help that his opening partner Jos Buttler, perhaps England’s best ever white-ball batter, has had an even more terrible World Cup.

The point is that neither team has been able to unleash its most lethal weapon yet. If either of them clicks in the semifinal, his team will have one foot in the final. But if their poor run continues, it will be up to the others to put their hand up. Fortunately for India, on current form, they seem to have several hands in the air.