'Most important player' Adil Rashid looms as key threat against India

There are 10,000 miles between Adelaide and Georgetown, but the T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final brings the two together. England and India's T20I sides last met 19 months ago in South Australia, but on Thursday, will face one another on the tip of South America in Guyana, a country that is newly oil-rich, is rapidly developing and is covered by rainforests.

It is half a world away from their most recent meeting, but England have reflected fondly. Jos Buttler, their captain, was front and centre of that win, combining with Alex Hales for an unbroken opening stand worth 170 to secure a ten-wicket win with four overs unused. Buttler's roar after thumping Mohammed Shami over long-on was the abiding image.

But when Buttler sat down with England's digital team on arrival in Georgetown to reflect on that win, he chose a different highlight. "One of the great games in an England shirt," he said, smiling. "I'm trying to think: what were the standout moments? Probably Surya [Suryakumar Yadav] getting out; that's always a good moment. He was having an unbelievable tournament."

As so often, it was Adil Rashid who delivered that crucial - and oft-forgotten - blow. Suryakumar averaged 75 at a strike rate of 193.96 in the Super 12 stage of the 2022 T20 World Cup and had just landed a left-right punch on Ben Stokes, hooking him for six and flaying him over the covers for four. After India's steady start, Suryakumar sensed the need to attack.

But he fell to his next ball: Rashid flighted his legbreak, and Suryakumar stepped outside leg stump looking to open up the off side. The overspin meant the ball skewed away much squarer than he intended, hanging in the air as Phil Salt settled underneath it off the point boundary. Salt turned around and smiled at the Indian-dominated crowd, as Rashid clenched his fist.

Rashid finished with 1 for 20 from his four overs, the second of his three major contributions in must-win games at the end of that World Cup: his 1 for 16 in their final group game against Sri Lanka won him the Player-of-the-Match award, and his 2 for 22 in the final - including a wicket-maiden - ensured Pakistan were short of a par score at the MCG.

Rashid was short of his best in the early stages of this tournament in 2024, a rare off-day against Australia highlighting his lack of match practice in the build-up. But in the second stage, the Super Eight, he was superb: he varied his pace and used the cross-breezes in St Lucia and Barbados to drift his stock legbreaks into right-handers before they spun away.

Rashid has extended his fine record in the West Indies over the last three weeks, where he has played 20 T20Is since 2019 due to England's regular limited-overs tours. He has taken 30 wickets at 14.83 in the region with an economy rate of 6.09. Even accounting for West Indies' regular struggles against legspin, it is a remarkable haul for a touring bowler.

Thursday's semi-final will bring a new challenge. Rashid is one of three members of England's squad who has played in Guyana before, but his sole appearance came in a rain-ruined four-day game for England Lions 13 years ago, in which he didn't bowl a ball. The venue is among the most spin-heavy in the world - spinners bowl around ten overs out of 20 here - and India are acutely aware of his threat.

England expect that the main characteristic at the Providence Stadium will be low bounce, rather than sharp turn. "The numbers don't suggest it is a spinning pitch," Matthew Mott, their coach, said. "It is a low-bouncing pitch, which makes spin effective. On any surface, Rash is an incredible bowler, and I think he will come into the mix even more."

Rashid's consistency and longevity can obscure just how much of an outlier he is. Before Rashid, England never had a regular wristspinner in their limited-overs teams, and were often badly exposed when they came up against one; now, he has 318 wickets across the two white-ball formats, and has been one of the first names picked in either England squad for nearly a decade.

He has not played a first-class match for more than five years: like James Anderson and Stuart Broad before him, Rashid has extended his career thanks to specialisation. "He's got so much variation and so much threat of taking wickets," Buttler said after England's win over West Indies. "We keep saying he is our most important player: he really has been for a long time."

England believe that India are "a very different team" from the one that they faced in Adelaide in the previous T20 World Cup. "The way they've approached it in the last couple of years is certainly taking the game on extremely hard in the powerplay," Mott said. "Rohit [Sharma] with the bat has led the way extremely well, and shown leadership in that department."

On Thursday, India will have the opportunity to prove that their new mindset will stand up under the pressure of a knockout game. India will be worthy finalists if they can take Rashid down in Guyana.