England openers smash India aside to reach final
England rolled over India in a
10-wicket win to set up a Twenty20 World Cup final against Pakistan.
Set 169 to win, England reached their target with four overs to spare as openers Alex Hales (86 not out) and Jos Buttler (80 not out) obliterated India’s bowlers.
They silenced the 40,000-strong pro-India Adelaide crowd by scoring
170 runs off 96 deliveries. Theirs was the highest England opening stand in T20 cricket, and the highest opening stand in all T20 World Cups.
“It was almost a perfect innings,” Hales said. “It’s as special as it gets.”
Hales’ 86 came off 47 balls, and Buttler’s 80 off 49.
This was after legspinner Adil Rashid’s four-over spell of 1-20 helped restrict India to a respectable 168-6. Chris Jordan finished with 3-43. Hardik Pandya’s 63 off 33 went in vain.
The final is tomorrow in Melbourne. Pakistan downed New Zealand on Wednesday.
England will be seeking their second T20 world title, after 2010. Pakistan’s only title came a year earlier at Lord’s.
“Pretty disappointed,” said India captain Rohit Sharma. “We didn’t turn up with the ball. We did get runs at the back end but we were nervous at the start. We have to give credit to their openers. They played really well.”
Put in to bat, India started slowly, crawling to 56-2 inside nine overs. Indeed it wasn’t until the 12th over that India got going as Virat Kohli notched his fourth half-century in six innings at this T20 World Cup, reaching the mark off 39 balls. He put on a crucial 61 runs for the fourth wicket with Pandya.
After Kohli was dismissed, Pandya blitzed England, and India scored 47 runs in the last three overs. Pandya hit four fours and five sixes, reaching his half-century off only 29 balls.
But England’s Buttler and Hales were even better. They took a staggering 63 runs off the powerplay. Their 50-stand came off 29 balls.
It was the highest successful runchase in T20s at Adelaide. Hales was player of the match, a remarkable comeback for the opener who was ousted from the England set-up before the 2019 50-over World Cup for recreational drug abuse.
“I never thought I’d play in a World Cup again, so to get the chance is a very special feeling,” Hales said. “This is one of the best nights of my career.”