Score and match updates from today’s T20 World Cup semi-final

But Bethell would not quite complete what he had started. He only faced two more balls in the 19th over, leaving England needing 30 from the final over. Attempting a second run to stay on strike, Bethell’s desperate, forlorn dive ended with his face on the ground. Three sixes from Jofra Archer, when defeat was already mathematically confirmed, added to England’s anguish.

Yet English defeats have seldom been more admirable. A cocktail of a raucous home crowd, sumptuous batting conditions and the high-stakes of a World Cup semi-final combined to produce one of the greatest matches in T20 history.

After conceding their highest ever score in T20 cricket, and then losing Phil Salt in the second over, England responded with bravery and elan to their impossible pursuit. Bethell arrived at 38 for two, and promptly flicked Bumrah for six over fine leg from his second delivery.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Bethell had shadow-batted out on the square at the Wankhede. Yet surely not even in his visualisation can he have imagined batting with quite the fluency and range that he exhibited in Mumbai.

When mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy came on, in the sixth over, Bethell showed off his audacity and range, launching Chakravarthy’s first ball over long on and his second over long off. His appetite unsated, Bethell then reverse-slogged Chakravarthy’s third delivery for another six, this time over deep point.