Alex Hales and Jos Buttler both hit half-centuries as England crushed to a 10-wicket win over India in the 2nd semi-final at the Adelaide Oval.
Three boundaries off the 1st over of the chase set the tone for the English openers as they looked to go after the bowling right from the word go. India tried it all, going form Arshdeep Singh to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar to Axar Patel to Mohammed Shami in the power play but India just could not find a way through the two right-handers.
Bowlers battle hard but Sri Lanka bow out with loss
Hales had a real shot at getting to a century, when he raced to 80 off 41 deliveries with 29 left for England to win. However, Buttler joined the fun to push towards an early end to the game, smashing 24 off his next 12 deliveries to finish on 80 and giving England the win off a straight six.
Earlier in the day, England won the toss and opted to bowl first but KL Rahul showed some intent right off the bat, hitting the loosener from Ben Stokes to start off proceedings to the boundary. Rahul didn’t last long, but the in-form Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma put together 47 for the 2nd wicket.
The pair however, were never allowed to get away with things, despite both hitting some breathtaking boundaries. Suryakumar Yadav was the man all eyes were on, but Adil Rashid had him caught in the deep and with not much on the board, India were staring at a below-par total.
Player Report Card – Sri Lanka at the T20 World Cup
At the end of the 15th over, India were 100/3 but they ended up with 68 off the last 5 to give them a competitive total in a knockout game. Of the 68 scored in the last 5, Pandya did the bulk of the scoring with 54, including 5 sixes and 3 fours.
For England, Rashid was excellent once again, finishing with 1/20, while Mark Wood’s replacement, Chris Jordan went for runs at the death, but picked up 3 crucial wickets, ending with 3/43.
India would have backed themselves to defend the total, but the English openers were just too good, getting to the target in 16 overs.
