Barbados, JUN 28: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday announced the match officials for the T20 World Cup 2024 final which is set to be played between India and South Africa at the Kensington Oval, Barbados, on Saturday.
Both South Africa and India are unbeaten in T20 World Cup so far. The Proteas defeated Afghanistan in a one-sided encounter in the first semi-final while Rohit Sharma’s side dominated England in the second semi-final.
For the final, the experienced Richard Illingworth and Chris Gaffaney will be the on-field umpires. Richard Kettleborough will take the responsibility of the third umpire while Rodney Tucker will be the fourth umpire for the high-voltage clash.
Kettleborough not serving as an on-field umpire would be nothing less than a moment of relief for the Indian fans as he has, so far, officiated six of India’s knockout matches in ICC events, including the ODI World Cup 2023 final, and the Blues lost all of them.
In the second semi-final, chasing the 172-run target, England had a good start as in the first three overs, they had scored 26 runs without losing a single wicket. Jos Buttler looked in good touch but he was dismissed by Axar Patel on the first ball of the fourth over.
India’s spin department continued to dominate the defending champions as Jonny Bairstow (0 off 3), Moeen Ali (8 off 10), Sam Curran (2 off 4) and Liam Livingstone (11 of 16), all failed to score big for the team.
For India, Patel and Kuldeep bagged three wickets each while Bumrah got two as the entire English team was out for 103 runs in 16.4 overs.
India scored 171 runs while batting first with Rohit Sharma (57) and Suryakumar Yadav (47) top-scoring for them.
Meanwhile, in the first semi-final, South Africa bundled the entire Afghanistan team for just 56 runs and they had no trouble chasing the target as they reached home in just 8.5 overs.
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