Two years after crushing Rohit Sharma’s then-timid team, England, the defending T20 World Cup champions, take on India in the semi-finals once more. Rohit has since spearheaded a mental shift, highlighted by his “brutally elegant” 92 off 41 balls against Australia. Watch live on Sky Sports on Thursday at 3 p.m.

In the T20 World Cup semi-final match between India and England, there will either be retaliation or a recurrence.

The match on Thursday in Guyana is a replay of the England vs. Australia 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal match, which England won by 10 wickets in Adelaide against a very cowardly foe.

After being inserted, India lumbered to 168-6, with the only genuine bounce coming from Hardik Pandya’s 63 from 33 balls before stepping on his stumps.

Virat Kohli scored his 4,000th career T20I run, but he remained mainly quiet during his 50 from 40 delivery innings. In his 27 off 28, skipper Rohit Sharma scored less than one run per ball.

Jos Buttler (80no off 49) and Alex Hales (86no off 47) hammered England to 63-0 in the powerplay and to their goal of 169 with a full four overs remaining, destroying any doubts that Rohit’s team had a competitive total. Buttler’s six off Mohammed Shami sealed a commanding victory.

India was “stirred” by their previous semi-final loss to England.

India were forced to accept that their search for a maiden World Cup trophy since winning the 50-over version on home soil in 2011 would have to wait as England advanced to a final they would go on to win, defeating Pakistan due to an important innings from Ben Stokes.

India seemed to have been roused by their defeat to England, and more importantly, by the way it was handled tentatively. Captain Rohit is leading the way.

With Rohit smashing 92 from 41 balls at the top of the order in their last Super 8s match of this year’s T20 World Cup, there was no sign of hesitation.

The ‘brutal elegance’ of Rohit embodies the new approach.

“I think the change in mentality happened after that 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final,” stated Nasser Hussain of Sky Sports Cricket. That was evident in the 50-over World Cup held the previous year, and it is evident in this World Cup as well, especially since they relocated from New York.

Poor pitches prevented them from being as aggressive as they would have liked in New York, but as their hitters (some, but not all of them) gained confidence, they returned to that mindset, with Rohit at the forefront of it all.

“You need to walk the walk as captain if you are going to talk the talk, as he did prior to the Australia game when he stated that he was more concerned with balls faced and strike rate than with fifties and hundreds. His innings was also among the best I have seen in a white-ball innings.

“The epitome of brute elegance.” destroying Starc, slogging through Pat Cummins, and going all in over the extra cover.

“After him, you have Hardik, Suryakumar, and Rishabh Pant all using the same attacking strategy. Is it something they could pull off in a knockout match?

Is England reaching their zenith during their title defense?

Reece Topley’s exclusion from the rain-off against Scotland and the Australian defeat raised questions, but the defending champions have since defeated associate nations Oman, Namibia, and the USA in addition to beating the host nation and two-time winners West Indies. These exploits come after early fielding, bowling, and possibly selection errors. The only recent hiccup is a close loss to South Africa.

With nine wickets apiece, Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer have bowled brilliantly and cheaply against the West Indies, giving up just six runs in total over the course of the 16th and 17th overs. Meanwhile, Buttler, Salt, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, and Liam Livingstone have all scored runs at the bat.

After Chris Jordan’s hat-trick and four wickets in five balls had rolled USA for 115, Buttler did so in devastating fashion against USA on Sunday to secure England’s semi-final spot. He crunched 83 not out from 38 balls, including five sixes in an over, to power his men to their target of 116 in 19.4 overs.

In that match, Jordan took the place of England’s other pacer, Mark Wood, and he is likely to stay there against India. Despite not having Wood’s quickness, he helps his team in many other ways with his excellent fielding, death bowling, and lower-order hitting.

Even though they have only defeated the West Indies in this tournament and lost to Australia and South Africa in their other two matches, England is just two victories away from becoming the first team to successfully defend the Men’s T20 World Cup and may be peaking at the right time.