ADELAIDE: Alex Hales and captain Jos Buttler hammered brilliant unbeaten half-centuries in a record unbroken opening partnership as a ruthless England humiliated India by 10 wickets at Adelaide Oval on Thursday to storm into the Twenty20 World Cup final.

England, who won the 50-over World Cup on home soil in 2019, can now become the first team to hold both global trophies in white-ball cricket when they meet Pakistan in Sunday’s final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

They have rehabilitated opener Hales and Buttler to thank as the pair chased down 169 for victory with four overs to spare, silencing a huge crowd of India supporters by scoring 170 runs.

Theirs was the highest England opening stand in Twenty20 cricket, and the highest opening stand in all T20 World Cups.

Hales finished on 86 not out from 47 balls, and Buttler, who was unbeaten on a 49-ball 80, completed the statement win in style, blasting paceman Mohammed Shami over his head for six.

It was a far cry from earlier in the tournament when England were shocked by Ireland.

“That feels a long time ago now,” said Buttler. “The character we’ve shown to get through the tournament since then, and put in our best performance today, has been amazing.

“It certainly feels [a perfect match] against a top quality opposition. We came in very excited and there was a good feel around the group. We always want to start as fast as we can and aggressive. Adil Rashid was [batting] down at number 11 today, and that gives us the freedom to come out aggressive, that depth. I thought everyone, from one to 11, stood up today.”

This was after leg-spinner Rashid’s four-over spell of 1-20 helped to restrict India to a respectable 168-6. Chris Jordan, in the side for the injured Mark Wood, finished with 3-43 as Hardik Pandya’s 63 off 33 went in vain.

England will be seeking their second T20 world title, after 2010. Pakistan’s only title came a year earlier at Lord’s.

India face a period of introspection, having failed to set up a decider against arch-rivals Pakistan that their massive fan base had clamoured for.

“It’s pretty disappointing how we turned up today,” said skipper Rohit. “It was definitely not a wicket where a team can come and chase it down in 16 overs.

“I thought we still batted pretty well at the back end to get to that score, but we were not good enough with the ball. The way we started with the ball was not ideal. We were a little nervy, but you have to give credit to the openers as well. They played really well.

“If we keep it tight and the batsman still score runs, we’ll take it. But we didn’t do that today. It’s all about executing your plans. If you can’t execute, you’d find yourself in trouble.”

Put in to bat, India got off to a stutter.

K.L. Rahul began with a cracking boundary off Ben Stokes but seamer Chris Woakes had the opener caught behind off a rising delivery for five.

Skipper Sharma hit four boundaries after a scratchy start as he and Kohli attempted to rebuild but Jordan broke through in his first over and ended a 43-run partnership when Sharma mistimed to wide long-on with the score on 57. His painstaking 27 off 28 balls included four boundaries.

India’s master blaster Suryakumar Yadav smashed a six and four off Stokes but soon fell to Adil Rashid’s leg-spin for 14.

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 but fell next delivery to a sharp catch at short third man by Rashid off Jordan.

Kohli, who leads the tournament batting chart with 296 runs, put on a crucial 61 runs for the fourth wicket with Pandya.

After his dismissal, Pandya blitzed England and India scored 57 off the final three overs, including 20 off one from Sam Curran. Pandya hit four fours and five sixes, reaching his half-century off only 29 balls, before treading on his stumps to be out hit wicket off Jordan’s final ball of the innings.

The total seemed a tad below par and soon looked piffling as Hales and Buttler went to work.

Buttler smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for three boundaries in the opening over of their chase and his side never looked back.

He kept up the batting onslaught and Hales soon joined the big-hitting party as England raced to 63-0 in six overs.

Hales reached his 50 off 28 balls and was severe on Axar Patel, who leaked 28 runs in his three overs as the match was torn away from India in a flurry of sixes and fours.

Buttler and Hales spared no bowler from punishment. Kumar gave away 25 runs in two overs. Shami was taken for 39 in three overs. Ravichandran Ashwin gave away 27 in two overs.

Hales raised the team’s 100 with another six off Pandya and Buttler soon changed gears to catch up with his partner.

The skipper reached his fifty with a six and a four off Pandya to douse any hopes of India attempting to end their world title drought since their 2013 Champions Trophy triumph.

He fittingly hit the winning runs with a six off Shami to set up a mouthwatering duel against Pakistan, 30 years on from the teams’ 50-over World Cup final in 1992 at the MCG which the south Asians won.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

Batters & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

K.L. Rahul c Buttler b Woakes 5 5 1 0 100.00

R. Sharma c Curran b Jordan 27 28 4 0 96.42

V. Kohli c Rashid b Jordan 50 40 4 1 125.00

S. Yadav c Salt b Rashid 14 10 1 1 140.00

H. Pandya hit wicket b Jordan 63 33 4 5 190.90

Rishabh Pant run out (Jordan) 6 4 1 0 150.00

R. Ashwin not out 0 0 0 0 -

EXTRAS (W-3) 3

TOTAL (for six wickets, 20 overs) 168

DID NOT BAT: A. Patel, B. Kumar, M. Shami, A. Singh

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9 (Rahul), 2-56 (Sharma), 3-75 (Yadav), 4-136 (Kohli), 5-158 (Pant), 6-168 (Pandya)

BOWLING: Stokes 2-0-18-0, Woakes 3-0-24-1 (2w), Curran 4-0-42-0, Rashid 4-0-20-1, Livingstone 3-0-21-0, Jordan 4-0-43-3 (w1)

ENGLAND:

Batters & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR

J. Buttler not out 80 49 9 3 163.26

A. Hales not out 86 47 4 7 182.97

EXTRAS (W-4) 4

TOTAL (for no wicket, 16 overs) 170

DID NOT BAT: P. Salt, B. Stokes, H. Brook, L. Livingstone, Moeen Ali, S. Curran, C. Woakes, C. Jordan, Adil Rashid

BOWLING: Kumar 2-0-25-0 (1w), Singh 2-0-15-0 (1w), Patel 4-0-30-0, Shami 3-0-39-0, Ashwin 2-0-27-0 (1w), Pandya 3-0-34-0

RESULT: England won by 10 wickets.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Alex Hales

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2022