England smashes India to move into final
England smashed India from securing a place in the final of the T20 Cricket World Cup as they romped home in their semi final match with a walloping ten wicket victory at the Adelaide Oval yesterday as the opening pair of Jos Buttler and Alex Hales chased down a 169 target in just 16 overs.
The Indians had no answer to the way Buttler and Hales went about securing the match conceding 63 runs in the first six power play overs and the match result was a foregone conclusion in 10 overs when England ended at 98 without losing a wicket.
The duo’s 170-run unbroken partnership was the highest in the tournament and the most runs for any wicket in the history of T20 World Cups that left India and their supporters speechless and dumbfounded for answers.
Strangely for England it was Hales who led the way as he reached his half century before the usually explosive Buttler and completed his unconquered innings hammering as many as seven sixes to add to his four fours.
Hales relished hitting the ball out of the ground in style and did not spare a single bowler in his onslaught while his knock of 86 not out came in just 47 balls.
He could have easily reached a century with England needing 46 more runs with his score on 77 and eight overs remaining. But Buttler the captain who knows best allowed Hales a respite and took matters into his hands to send out the perfect message ahead of the final against Pakistan finishing on an unbeaten 80 in 49 balls while wrapping up the result with a straight six in the last ball of the 16th over that added to two more already in the bag to go with his nine fours.
Not a single Indian bowler was able to control the flow of runs as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin conceded more than 12 runs an over individually.
Earlier England won the toss and decided to bowl first but could not have it to their liking as India phased out their innings well despite scoring just 38 runs in the first six power-play overs to reach a total of 168 for 6.
England’s only success to check the Indian batting came in the second over when they had opener KL Rahul caught behind by Jos Buttler off paceman Chris Woakes for 5 before Rohit Sharma (27) and Virat Kohli (50) dug in to consolidate the innings.
But what mattered most for India was that middle order batsman Hardik Pandya struck form when it was most needed after the exit of Kohli and Suriyakumar Yadav (14) who attempted to take on spinner Adil Rashid only to sky the ball for deep cover Phil Salt to take the catch. While Kohli made his 50 in 40 balls with four fours and one six, Pandya played some of his customary shots after taking to the crease in the 12th over and stayed on until the last ball of the 20th over plundering five sixes to add to his four fours while facing just 33 balls.
England made two changes to the team that beat Sri Lanka to reach the semi finals by replacing paceman Mark Wood with Chris Jordan and taking in batsman Phil Salt while leaving out an injured Dawid Malan.
But Jordan proved expensive conceding 43 runs in his four overs although he took three wickets towards the end while Sam Curran also disappointed by conceding 42 runs in four overs without a wicket.
Scores:
India 168 for 5 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 27, Virat Kohli 50, Hardik Pandya 53, Chris Jordan 3 for 43)
England 170 for no loss in 16 overs (Jos Buttler 80 not out, Alex Hales 86 not out)