MUMBAI: Sanju Samson's sublime fifty and Jasprit Bumrah's spell touched with unearthly genius on a batting beauty helped India secure a seven-run win over gallant England, as the defending champions powered to the T20 World Cup final here on Thursday.
Sanju Samson (89 off 42) overcame the Jofra Archer challenge through a slice of luck for his second successive fifty, firing India to a mammoth 253 for seven, the highest total in a knock-out game in the tournament's history.
It was an above-par total at Wankhede but Jacob Bethell (105 off 48) led England’s fightback with a sublime hundred after they lost three wickets in the powerplay for 68 runs.
In the end, critical contribution from Bumrah (1/33 in 4 overs) in the death overs allowed India to stop England at 246/7 in 20 overs.
India will now face New Zealand in the title clash in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Tom Banton (17 off 5) was the fourth wicket to fall but sixes kept coming, propelling England to 119 for four at the halfway stage, equalling India's mark after 10 overs.
Varun Chakaravarthy was again the weakest link in the attack as he failed to find the right length on an unforgiving surface to leak 64 runs in his four overs.
Bumrah had got rid of the dangerous Harry Brook in the power play with slow cutter, and Axar Patel took a sensational backward running catch from the cover region.
With Will Jacks (35 off 20) and Bethell on the offensive in the middle overs, it was another brilliant work of fielding from Axar in the deep that saw the former's back, ending a 77-run stand off 39 balls.
Curran joined Bethell in the middle and the equation was brought down to a gettable 45 off the last three overs, forcing Suryakumar Yadav to bring Bumrah for one final time in the game.
The Indian wizard delivered once again by conceding only six runs. With both Arshdeep and Bumrah not available, Shivam Dube was called upon to defend 30 in the final over.
England’s hopes ended with a heartbreaking run out of Bethell, who played a memorable innings.
After single-handedly taking India to the semifinals, a supremely confident Samson (89) bludgeoned the England bowling attack including Archer, who had dominated his battle against the Indian opener in last year’s bilateral series.
Having lost the toss at a ground with short boundaries, India had to put up a big total and Samson helped them do that after being dropped by Harry Brook on 15 off Archer in the third over.
England had already removed Abhishek Sharma the over before and a Samson dismissal would have put India under pressure, but Brook dropped a sitter at mid-on, leaving Archer in disbelief.
That was all the luck Samson need to make England pay, hammering seven sixes and eight fours in his sizzling knock.
Dismissed thrice by Archer last year when he did not have the answers for short balls into the body, Samson subdued the England pace spearhead with a flurry of pu ll shots.
He picked up length quickly and was aided by a wayward Archer who was too short in his opening spell of two overs.
His first maximum off Archer came via a pull over fine leg before the opener dispatched a slower ball off the pacer over deep mid-wicket for another maximum.
Samson shared a 97-run stand off 45 balls with Ishan Kishan (39 off 19) who too picked up the boundaries against an erring England bowling line-up. India raced to 67 for one in the power play and maintained the onslaught to reach 119 for two in 10 overs.
Shivam Dube (43 off 25) was promoted to number four to maintain the left -right combination after Kishan fell to Rashid.
Samson, at the other end, was equally menacing against the other bowlers including Curran and Jamie Overton.
Archer returned for his second spell only to get hammered by Samson again. The opener smashed him for a six over backward point before smoking Archer for another maximum over long-off.
Archer ended up leaking 61 runs in four overs as Tilak Varma (21 off 7) added to his forgettable night with three sixes in the 19th over.
England went with the off-spin of Jacks in the final over and Hardik Pandya (27 off 12) put him to sword with a couple of sixes. The last five overs yielded 76 runs, pushing India to an above par total.