Kishan, Rahul star as India beat England in warm-up
Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul hit fine half-centuries as India chased down 189 to defeat England by seven wickets in the warm-up match of the T20 World Cup at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai on Monday.
Chasing 189, India got off to an excellent start as opening batters Rahul (51) and Kishan (70) put on 59 runs inside the first six overs. Rahul continued with his fine IPL form and he brought up his half-century in the 9th over of the innings.
However, Rahul (51) lost his wicket to Mark Wood immediately after reaching the landmark and this brought an end to the 82-run opening stand.
Rahul’s wicket did not slow the run-rate down for India as Kishan kept on going for his shots and he brought up his fifty off just 36 balls in the 12th over of the innings. However in the 13th over, Liam Livingstone got the better of Virat Kohli (11), ending the 43-run second-wicket stand, reducing India to 125/2.
Kishan eventually retired hurt after playing a knock of 70 runs and this brought Suryakumar Yadav to the middle with Indian still needing 39 runs for the win. However, he did not manage to stay at the crease for a long haul as he departed after scoring just 8.
In the end, Rishabh Pant (29*) and Hardik Pandya (12*) took India over the line with six balls to spare. Earlier, Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone played knocks of 49 and 30 respectively as England posted a total of 188/5.
Brief scores: England 188 for five in 20 overs (Jonny Bairstow 49, Moeen Ali 43 not out, Liam Livingstone 30; Jasprit Bumrah 1/26, Mohammed Shami 3/40) lost to India 192 for three in 19 overs (Ishan Kishan retired not out 70, KL Rahul 51, Rishabh Pant 29 not out; David Willey 1/16, Mark Wood 1/22, Liam Livingstone 1/10) by seven wickets.