Online Desk : Left-arm spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel took three wickets apiece as India thrashed defending champions England by 68 runs in Guyana on Thursday to set up a T20 World Cup final against South Africa.

England, set a challenging target of 172, slumped to 103 all out inside 17 overs, wrist spinner Kuldeep finishing with figures of 3-19 and the orthodox Patel 3-23.

India, bidding for their first major title since the 2013 Champions Trophy, will now play South Africa -- also unbeaten at this tournament after a nine-wicket hammering of Afghanistan in their semi-final -- in Saturday`s final in Barbados.

The Kensington Oval clash will also be India`s second appearance in successive global showpiece games after they lost on home soil to Australia in last year`s 50-over World Cup final.

"It`s very satisfying to win this game," said India skipper Rohit Sharma after his team gained revenge for a humiliating 10-wicket loss to England in the semi-finals of the 2022 T20 World Cup.

"We worked really hard as a unit. To win like that was a great effort from everybody."

Rohit laid the foundations by top-scoring with 57 in a total of 171-7 after his side were somewhat surprisingly sent into bat by England skipper Jos Buttler.

It was the opener`s third fifty of the tournament and second in as many games following his blistering 92 against Australia. - `India outplayed us` -

India were 40-2 in the powerplay after Virat Kohli (nine) and Rishabh Pant (four) both fell cheaply.

But a third-wicket stand of 73 between Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav (47), spanning a rain delay of over an hour, turned the tide.

Patel, the player of the match, said: "I knew that the wicket was stopping and had something for the bowlers...Our batters told us the pitch wasn`t easy to hit the ball. We felt it (171) was a good total."

Defeat meant the only Test side that England had beaten at this event were co-hosts the West Indies, with the title-holders also losing to Australia and South Africa.

"India outplayed us, certainly," said Buttler. "We let them maybe get 20-25 too many (runs) on a challenging surface that they played well on. They fully deserved to win.

"They`ve got some fantastic spinners. Our two (Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone) bowled well but in hindsight, probably should`ve bowled Moeen (Ali) in our innings with the way spin was playing.

"But with a good score and their brilliant bowling attack, it was always going to be a tough chase.

Buttler launched England`s reply with a brisk 23. When he attempted to reverse sweep Patel`s first ball, however, he clipped a gentle catch off the toe-end of the bat to wicketkeeper Pant.

Fellow opener Phil Salt was then clean bowled by Jasprit Bumrah`s well-disguised slower ball.

England then saw 34-2 become 35-3 when Patel bowled dangerman Jonny Bairstow for a duck.

Moeen was then stumped by Pant and when Sam Curran was lbw to Kuldeep, England were in dire straits at 49-5 in the ninth over.

Wickets continued to tumble and when Livingstone, the last of England`s specialist batsmen, was run out for 11 after a dreadful mix-up with Jofra Archer, England were all but beaten at 86-8.

Archer struck a couple of defiant sixes but Bumrah ended the match when he had the England paceman lbw for 21 with a low full toss.