England captain Jos Buttler opted to field after winning the toss in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 against India at Guyana on Thursday.
Both teams remained unchanged.
"We would have batted first, the weather looks good, whatever had to happen, it has already happened. We wanted to put runs on the board. The pitch tends to get slower as the game goes on," India skipper Rohit Sharma said after the toss.
"With the rain around, we thought it'll be a bit of an advantage to bowl first," said Buttler.
Teams: India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah.
England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (wk/capt), Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley.
Why was the toss delayed? The weather forecast will tell
The weather report was not promising as Guyana has experienced 12 hours of continuous rain. There is a high chance of rain threatening to wash out the semi-final match. As per the weather forecast, “Rain showers in the morning with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 86F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.”
Pitch Report:
Scoring runs at this pitch has seemed to be difficult in the past few matches. A bowler who can effectively control speed and variation can certainly create havoc on this pitch. Bowlers such as Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Jofra Archer, shall be comfortable at this pitch during the match.
(With inputs from Keerthana Menon)