ADELAIDE: Alex Hales and skipper Jos Buttler shone in a record-breaking opening partnership as a ruthless England thrashed India by 10 wickets at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday to book their place in 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 lift both world trophies in white-ball cricket when they meet Pakistan in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. .
They have restored opener Hales and skipper Buttler to thank as the pair chased down 169 for victory with four overs to spare, leaving a large crowd of India fans stunned.
Hales scored 86 not out, and Buttler, who remained unbeaten on 80, completed the victory in style by hitting pacer Mohammad Shami for a six.
For Hales, it was especially sweet, missing England’s 2019 victory after a recreational drug scandal.
His exile from the England set-up lasted more than three years and he was only called into the squad when Jonny Bairstow was injured in a freak golfing accident.
“It will definitely be there,” said Hales, who has played plenty of domestic T20 cricket in Australia with the Big Bash League.
“Playing India in the semi-finals of the World Cup is a huge opportunity … I’m really happy with the way I played.
“It’s a special feeling in a country that I love and I’ve spent a lot of time here, so tonight is one of the best nights of my career.”
The England pair’s stand of 170 was their team’s biggest in the history of the tournament and set up a mouth-watering encounter against Pakistan, 30 from the teams’ 50-over World Cup final at the MCG in 1992. The year after which Pakistan won.
“It definitely feels like (a great match) against a high-quality opposition,” Butler said.
“We were very excited and there was a good feeling around the group … I thought everyone from one to 11 stood up today.”
After Buttler won the toss and put India into bat, his bowlers did well to restrict India early but Hardik Pandya (63) and Virat Kohli (50) took the South Asians to six wickets. Helped recover from a slow start to score 168 runs.
It looked a defendable total but Buttler and Hales made light work of it as they took England to 63 for no loss at the end of the Powerplay and then to 98 at the halfway mark.
“It’s quite disappointing how we came today,” Indian captain Rohit Sharma said.
“I thought we batted well at the back end to get that score, but we weren’t that good with the ball.
“We weren’t good enough with the ball. It was definitely not a wicket where a team could come and chase it in 16 overs.
“It’s all about executing on your plans. If you can’t execute, you’re going to find yourself in trouble.”
Playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket), Hardik Pandya, Akshar Patel, R Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arsdeep Singh.
England: Jos Buttler (c&wk), Alex Hales, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid.
