For all of England's game-breaking talent, this win that takes them into the T20 World Cup final was all about doing the basics right.

They protected the short square boundary in Adelaide, giving away only two sixes until the start of the death overs.

They saw a chance to break open a chase of 169 in the powerplay, when the ball was coming on nicely under the lights, and seized it. Ten boundaries in the first six overs. And their second-highest score against India in a T20I while the field restrictions were on.

63 for 0 in six became 170 for 0 in 16. Jos Buttler became a supernova. Alex Hales became a dream come true. Jeetega bhai Jeetega became Sweet Caroline. And you know what, it could happen one more time. At the MCG. In the final. Against Pakistan. On Sunday.

Buttler isn't playing a game of cricket. He's making a statement. Goes to fifty with a pull shot that is hit so hard it shouldn't even belong in this world.

Hales, at the other end, is actually eyeing a century. There may not be enough runs for that. Imagine. This is a man who had been shunned, who might have thought he would never play a game for England ever again.

Now here he is leading them into the World Cup final

One horrid rain-soaked night at the MCG, England played the way they swore they never would. The captain then came out and said "let it hurt."

Pain is powerful. And so is the team under Jos Buttler's command.

Defeat to Ireland lit a fire under this world-beating outfit and now here they are. Eleven red-hot supernovas scorching all in their path.

England 91 for 0 in nine overs. They need 78 runs in 66 balls to make the T20 World Cup final.

India know its now or never. So Rohit calls his whole team into a huddle and asks them to dig deep one more time.

The noise is back at Adelaide

Haridk Pandya is demanding it. He is clapping along with the crowd. He is leading them like he had led India's innings.

Axar runs in with an ear-splitting roar behind him.

AND THEN SILENCE

Because Jos Buttler whacks the ball over midwicket for four.

This is ruthless. This is goosebumps. England 63 for 0 in six overs, their second highest powerplay in a T20I against India.

"We have to look at the data"

It was here, seven years ago, that an England coach was pilloried for these words

But this game. This dominance. It's been all about data -- and how it can be put into practice to gain the advantage.

England knew India's biggest threat with the ball in the powerplay is swing. So Buttler and Hales have been moving around in the crease, throwing the bowlers off their game.

England knew Surya's game is all about pace on the ball. So they took it off. Adil Rashid floated one up and got the mis-hit.

England knew getting Kohli early was vital and so they went to their big game player at this World Cup. Sam Curran. And first ball of that head to head was nearly a wicket.

England knew the square boundaries are dangerous here at the Adelaide Oval. So their primary mode of attack was keeping it tight on the stumps, taking the pace off, or going yorkers.

This game, if they win it, which ESPNcricinfo's forecaster (73%) says they will, has been won in the backroom

It's quiet in Adelaide.

The noise pre-game. The drums. The screams. The jeetega bhai jeetega chants. They're nowhere to be found. Like the car keys just when you need to get to work.

England are 33 for 0 in three overs. They're making all the noise. And India are forced to make a play. Axar Patel, the left-arm spinner, comes on for a match-up taking the pace off against a couple of hard-hitting right-handers.

And Buttler launches him over cover for four. England are sensing big moments and owning them. They've been doing it all day (except for those death overs)

England's run rate in the first six overs is 8.13, the second best at the World Cup. The call they made at the toss appears to be working for them well. Under lights, the ball is coming on nicely to the bat.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli might - miiiiiight - just have warned Alex Hales at the non-strikers end, perhaps for backing up too far.

It seems the England captain knows about this match-up; knows that Bhuvneshwar's biggest threat is swing so first ball he walks down the pitch.

India counter that by bringing Pant up to the stumps next ball.

169 is the kind of target England will fancy getting -- and also India will fancy defending. Especially with some swing on offer with the new ball.

All action first over ends with three fours and a play and miss

Curran's 17th over

Jordan's 18th over

Curran's 19th over

Jordan's 20th over

That's 58 in four overs with five sixes and four fours. Hardik made 51 of those runs with five sixes and three fours.

This is an excerpt from an interview that Hardik Pandya did with Nagraj Gollapudi for The Cricket Monthly in 2021.

This is how he's got all his boundaries here today. Standing deep in his crease. Expecting yorkers. And still launching them to all parts. Hardik Pandya finishes 63 off 33. He could've been 67 off 33 but he trod on his stumps while hitting the last ball for four. India 168 for 6. They were just 110 for 3 (rpo 6.8) at the start of the 16th over. Their death-overs hitting was phenomenal.

Russell says his power comes from a stable base, balance, core and shoulder strength. Physically both of you are different, but you too have a stable base. You now bat with a bit of an open stance. Can you describe where you derive your power from?
That open stance is not in every game. As for power, I love fitness. I knew when I was young that I can't become massive, no matter how much I train. I am lean but I have power. I love batting technique because that allows me to hit with power and consistency. In 2019 I started getting better in my technique. Automatically my consistency went up in power-hitting after I had sorted out playing against the short ball. Now no one bowls short balls to me. Before 2019, people used to come here (points to neck) and I was not good at pulling and hooking. I managed, but in 2019 I practised facing the plastic ball, tennis ball, making sure that my reflexes became quicker. I always had the position at the crease, it's just that I used to be late at reacting because of certain things with my technique.

I started picking where the bowler is going to bowl. I started understanding the fields. There was more clarity. Before that I was in the shadow of Mahi and other [power-hitting] legends. In 2019 was when I felt, Hardik, now you have to start learning how to finish. That is your role. Now you have to become consistent with the hitting.

You also went deeper in the crease. How does that give you an advantage?
I wanted to give myself that fraction of a second more. I didn't speak to anyone about it. I tried it in the nets and I started hitting well. Then what I did was, I bowled and I asked someone to cover the stumps and bat - I told him I would bowl yorkers. If he was showing the stumps, I could pitch the yorkers accurately, but if he covered the stumps, I was missing lots of balls [yorkers] because I wasn't seeing a target. That allowed me to understand that batting deep in the crease could give me a small advantage.I have also stood outside off stump in the past. I realised that by doing that, bowlers would think twice about bowling wide yorkers to me. But by showing the leg stump I could also get them to bowl in my areas. The bowler might think, he is exposing the leg stump, so if I pitch on the stumps, I could get him lbw, but I knew I would not miss it. I was attempting all this to gain that small upper hand - forcing the bowler to think. Because if you make the bowler think a little and he is not sure about it, then he could miss the length.

England did make two mistakes though in the death.

Curran began the 17th over with a short ball and got hit for six.

Jordan begins the 18th with a short ball and gets hit for six. Those are the smaller boundaries remember.

The second was a yorker that just missed its mark by a few millimeters and Pandya helicopters it for six.

That prompts a conversation between captain and bowler and the result of it is, back yourself, go yorker. Jordan keeps going full. And he gets Kohli out! 50 off 40. His fourth half-century of the tournament.

But the bigger story is England. And Jordan. 3-0-31-2.

He was there in 2016, when he all but won the game until Carlos Brathwaite changed the course of history.

He was there in 2021, when he bowled the over that lost England the game. He's since spoken about that too; about how there was a catch dropped off his bowling then which could have changed the result.

Here he is now. Smiling from ear to ear under the kind Adelaide skies.

With Surya gone, Karthik dropped and Pant stuck in the dugout, England only have to deal with batters who primarily play in front of the wicket.

No need to worry about 360.

So just stick to Plan A. And that's what they're doing. They're going full. They've got fine leg up, because they can afford to.

And they're restricting Kohli and Pandya's boundary scoring options.

India 121 for 3 in 17 overs.

It was always going to be hard for him to break into India's top four.

England used that to their advantage and front-loaded Adil Rashid. His four overs are done now without having to bowl one ball to the left-hander. A left-hander whose head-to-head reads 26 runs off 17 balls and zero dismissals in T20s (strike rate 153). India had a strength there but it's gone now.

Now England are getting overs out of Liam Livinstone too. And Pant is still in the dugout. Essentially India's finisher. His left-handedness has been wasted. And worse, he's being asked to do the most difficult job in cricket.

Pant has played only one game at this World cup. And he's being asked to finish the game; to save it even as it is going completely awry; a game where his more established team-mates haven't been able to find success.

There's a phrase for this, isn't there? #BestLaidPlans

India are still going.

Rohit kept hitting out and got out.

Surya kept hitting out and got out.

Hardik has just came in and he keeps hitting out. Two outside edges fall just short of two fielders behind point.

India are spooked by England's batting strength. They are playing like they can't afford a consolidation period

Everyone's been talking about him; about the way he can hit any ball anywhere.

AB de Villiers' name has been thrown around. The man himself is welcoming those comparisons.

And a World Cup semi-final comes along, offering him the chance to cement his greatness.

For a little while though, England seem to have cracked him. They see that a lot of his shots need pace on the ball. The scoops, the sweeps, all that. So they take it off. And also keep it tight to his body.

Surya is 4 off 6. And then this happens.

England have been put on notice. AND THEY RESPOND BRILLIANTLY!

SURYA'S GONE!

Adil Rashid, who was hit for a first-ball four when he tossed the ball up, trusts his method.

He tosses the ball up again. Surya charges out and looks to hit him over the top. Doesn't connect well enough. Caught at long-off.

England are doing very well in the clutch. Every time the game even seems like it's slipping away - Rohit's boundary vs Jordan and then immediately gone. Surya's twin hits vs Stokes and then immediately gone - they've hit back and hit back hard!

Oh Chris Jordan. He had played only one T20I since July 2022.

Then Mark Wood gets injured. Mark Wood who has been England's lynch pin in the middle overs. Whose pace and aggression couples so well with Sam Curran's too. Because those who can't hit Wood's 150 kph look to hit Curran's 130 kph and fall straight into the trap.

It was a big blow for England that they can't use that weapon in this semi-final, but in comes Jordan, a man potentially playing his final T20 World Cup, and he takes out India's captain

For all of India's aggression, they are still only going at a run a ball right now. 62 for 0 in 10 overs

WHOOOOOAAAAA!

Chris Jordan comes into the attack and looks blockhole.

But he misses.

Rohit though seems to know that he's going to miss.

Seems to have swindled the gift of foresight from the gods themselves.

He's just waiting in his crease. The lion in his den.

Crouches just a bit to get closer to the ball, to get under it.

AND THEN LAUNCHES HIM OVER EXTRA COVER!

Unreal batting from India's captain. Kohli punches his bat. India are feeling it...

And then they lose it because Jordan goes slower ball and knocks Rohit over!

WHAT A GAME!

And what a moment to welcome Suryakumar Yadav!

Right at the start of the over. India hit five boundaries in the Powerplay. Four of them came off the first or second balls of the over.

Why did they do that? Well coz that puts the bowler on the defensive. It whacks him out of his length.

Like Adil Rashid, came in and floated his first ball up and gets swept for four by Rohit.

Every ball since then have been quick and flat

Oh sublime.

Rohit's morphed into MS Dhoni a bit there.

Full and straight from Curran. And India's captain helicopters him away to the midwicket boundary. Just waiting on the ball that tiny bit longer. That's what he's not always been doing since he decided he wanted to lead a batting revolution.

Since the end of the last World Cup, Rohit has been adamant that India have to hit from ball one.

That, in some ways, has taken away his biggest strength: Batting big and batting long in T20 cricket.

But he's committed to this method - and not blindly either. He sought out batting depth first. He wanted insurance if India lost too many early wickets. That's where Suryakumar and Hardik come into the picture.

This is wonderful batting. This is excellent strategy. This is Rohit Sharma.

On the up. Over the top. Six over cover - where else?! Virat Kohli owns the Adelaide Oval. And shots like these are the reason why.

Cagey start so far. A little bit all or nothing.

Sam Curran gets big on Virat Kohli!

And it's nearly caught at first slip!

This guy. He's unreal. Does he even have a ceiling?

Ages ago (not really) all he had was swing. People in England - and more so elsewhere - thought unless he could bowl with the new ball he won't trouble anyone.

But look at him now. He is rushing one of the greatest batters ever for pace and bounce.

Sam Curran is all personality. The skills are decent too. But this guy just won't take a backwards step. He just won't believe that someone is better than he is. He just won't stop.

That's why England brought him on as soon as Kohli was in. They knew Curran's juices would already be flowing. Good captaincy. Great contest.

He feels for one outside off.

And extra bounce does him in.

This is a hard pitch.

It's coming into the bat. It's got plenty of bounce. So if you're willing to bend your back, like Chris Woakes is, with this brand new ball, you get bang for your buck!

India lose an early wicket. And in comes Virat Kohli.

A first ball boundary.

Two plays and misses.

Absolutely tantalising outswing.

Glorious carry.

This, like Shane Watson in the pitch report suspected, might just be a high-scorer.

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Arshdeep Singh.

England: 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Ben Stokes, 4 Phil Salt, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Chris Jordan, 11 Adil Rashid.

Mark Wood (hip) and Dawid Malan (groin) are out injured. Chris Jordan and Phil Salt in.

India, who wanted to bat anyway, go with Rishabh Pant, preferring his left-handedness over Karthik's finishing skills, largely because of the dimensions at the Adelaide Oval. They want a left-hander in the mix to better exploit those 60m boundaries square of the wicket.

Pant has played only one game in this World Cup so far though, scoring three runs. This is a big call. A big sign too, that India are backing him to come good in the biggest of games. Because these are the games that India would've had in mind when they invested in Karthik. Big pressure games where every ball counts, especially at the death.

Selection questions. The biggest one England face is around the fitness of Mark Wood aka the Wondertainer.

If he pulls up well, you can just give him the ball, wind him up and let him loose. If he gets a boatload of wickets, it'll be wonderful. If he gets bashed around, it'll be entertaining. This is the high pace experience and there's nothing like it. England will be loathe to miss him (to what we hear is muscle stiffness) in such an important match.

India, meanwhile, will be fussing over whether to pick Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant. Karthik is the man they've backed in the finisher's role for the last little while. Plus check out his head-to-head in T20s against Sam Curran, England's designated death-bowler: 64 runs in 26 balls, one dismissal

But Pant brings a couple of very useful things to the table: his left-handedness and his unpredictability.

The straight boundaries are long (88m). The square boundaries are tiny (60m). So you'll see a lot of bowlers going full and straight or full and wide or full and slow.

18 of the last 29 T20s at this ground have been won by the team batting first.

The average total in that period is 161.

In 58 T20s since 2020, both spin (Econ 7.4, strike rate 19.7) and pace (Econ 8.1 strike rate 17.7) get an equal amount of help from this ground

Weirdly enough, the team that's won the toss at this ground in this tournament has always gone on to lose the match (six out of six). Although, as Karthik Krishnaswamy notes in ball-by-ball commentary, there may be another reason for that.

Remember 23 Oct 2022?

Remember that shot?

Remember what it meant?

Well this might just mean more.

India is the beating heart of this game. This is where the fans are. This is where the money is. But the World Cup hasn't been here since 2011. In less than a week's time, that could all change.

Imagine saying something - even thinking something - like that when Jasprit Bumrah was injured and out of the tournament. India's best weapon dismantled before a ball was bowled.

But that's the thing with this team. They don't dwell on setbacks. They don't listen to reason. They straight up bully fate.

Virat Kohli is this tournament's top run-scorer. Suryakumar Yadav is this year's top run-scorer. Arshdeep Singh is climbing up the top wicket-takers list. Dinesh Karthik who was around when 2007 happened is still here in 2022.

This is the force that will face England and if they win...

The first India Pakistan World Cup final gave birth to the IPL and by extension cricket as most of the world know it today.

Imagine the possibilities.

They invented the game. They hosted each of the first three World Cups. They absolutely loved cricket. And there were a few nice moments.

A passion-filled night in Karachi. Several glorious weeks in Australia. An unforgettable adventure in India.

But there was also "I intend... to make them grovel". And "We'll have a bowl"

England + Cricket = heartbreak emoji

But then, on a fine summer's day in 2019, they got their I love you back. And It. Meant. Everything.

Now they want I love you more. Maybe even I love you most. Because England, through all the twists and turns and tragicomedy, are now just two wins away from being the first men's team in history to hold both World Cups at the same time!

It's taken a lot of effort to get here. A complete rewiring of DNA, in fact. Seriously, if you take one of Liam Livingstone's cells and put it under a microscope, you'll just see a slog over midwicket for six.

This is England now. This is the revolution that Eoin Morgan began and Jos Buttler sustains. It got its validation at Lord's. But you know the thing with these things. Once is never ever enough.