England demolish India by 10 wickets to reach T20 WC final

It was a brilliant batting display from England as they beat India by 10 wickets in the second semifinal of the T20 World Cup at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

The Three Lions will face Pakistan in the final of this mega event on Sunday.

After winning the toss, England invited India to bat first. They posted 168 runs after losing six wickets. In reply, the English reached there in just 16 overs.

England captain, Jos Buttler said, “I think the character we have shown since then, it has been great. We came here very excited, there was a very good feeling. Everyone from 1 to 11 - stood up today. We always want to start fast and aggressive.”

The openers - Alex Hales and Buttler were looking really sharp from the beginning and put up an unbeaten 170-run partnership, the highest in T20 World Cup history. Both of them hit half-centuries.

Hales scored 86 off 47 while Buttler made 80 after facing 49 deliveries. Hales decorated his innings with seven maximums and four boundaries and was named the Player of the Match. On the other hand, Buttler smashed nine dazzling-looking boundaries and three over-boundaries.  

Earlier, India could not start off well as they lost an early wicket. KL Rahul who went for five threw his wicket away in the second over. 

There was no footwork from the opener as he tried to ride the bounce and it went too big on him. It was a regulation edge and Jos Buttler behind the sticks did the rest.

However, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kholi were playing watchfully and sometimes tries to hit some big shots as well. But their 47-run stand was broken in the ninth over as Rohit was sent back to the pavilion.

That was an odd good shot but largely, he struggled to get impetus into the innings. He tried to launch it over wide long-on but mistimed. Sam Curran charged forward and took a lovely catch.

Later, Suryakumar Yadav came into the middle and could not survive long. However, Kohli from the other end continued his fighting and smashed a half-century.

The in-from batter walked off after scoring 50 off 40 deliveries. Kohli bent down and opened the bat face, sliced it towards the short third man and Rashid Khan grabbed a sharp catch moving to his right.

Despite Virat’s 50, Hardik Pandya stole the light of the show as he hit a half-century as well that too in fewer deliveries. He played a brilliant knock of 33-ball-63 with the help of five maximums and four boundaries.

Chris Jordan picked up three wickets while Adil Rashid and Chris Woakes claimed one each for the Three Lions.