England yesterday rolled over India in a 10-wicket win and set up a T20 World Cup final against Pakistan.
Set 169 to win, England reached the 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 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.
Photo: AFP
“It was almost a perfect innings,” Hales said. “It is as special as it gets.”
Hales’ 86 came off 47 deliveries and Buttler’s 80 off 49.
This was after leg-spinner Adil Rashid’s four-over spell of 1-20 helped to restrict India to a respectable 168-6.
Photo: AFP
Chris Jordan finished with 3-43.
Hardik Pandya’s 63 off 33 deliveries went in vain.
The final is to be played on Sunday in Melbourne.
Photo: EPA-EFE
England will be seeking their second T20 world title after a win in 2010. Pakistan’s only title came a year earlier at Lord’s.
“Pretty disappointed,” India captain Rohit Sharma said. “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 got off to a stutter. K.L. Rahul was out caught behind for 5.
Sharma endured hardship to put bat on ball. His painstaking 27 off 28 balls included four boundaries. He finally holed out off Jordan.
India managed only 38-1 in the powerplay. Sharma’s dismissal made it 56-2 inside nine overs.
The turning point came when Suryakumar Yadav was out caught off Rashid in the 12th over. He scored 14 off 10 balls.
Virat Kohli soldiered on and held one end together. He notched his fourth half-century in six innings at this T20 World Cup, reaching the mark off 39 balls. He put on 61 runs for the fourth wicket with Pandya.
After Kohli was dismissed, Pandya blitzed England as India scored 47 runs in the last three overs.
Pandya hit four fours and five sixes, reaching his half-century off only 29 deliveries.
However, Buttler and Hales were even better.
They took 63 runs off the powerplay. Their 50 partnership came off 29 balls. The pair crossed 100 in 10.1 overs.
Buttler and Hales spared no bowler from punishment.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave away 25 runs in two overs, Mohammed Shami was taken for 39 in three overs and Ravichandran Ashwin gave away 27 in two overs.
Hales reached his half-century off 28 balls with a four and five sixes.
Buttler got to the mark off 36 balls, with seven fours and a six.
Overall, the duo hit 13 fours and 10 sixes to power England into the final and end India’s campaign.
It was the highest successful run-chase in T20s at Adelaide. England beat their own mark of 158 against Australia in 2011.
Hales was named player of the match, a remarkable comeback for the opener who was ousted from the England setup before the 2019 50-over World Cup for recreational drug abuse.
“I never thought I would play in a World Cup again, so to get the chance is a very special feeling, in a country [Australia] that I love and spend a lot of time in,” Hales said. “Tonight is one of the best nights of my career.”
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS