England faced the challenge of India in the semi-final. They reached the semi-final after bettering Australia, the home side. All three teams in Group A were levelled at 7 points. However, the kiwi side and the three lions had a better net run rate than Kangaroos. So they proceeded to the next stage. Newzeland was easily brushed away by the Shaheens of Pakistan. They were restricted to 152 by a brilliant bowling display from Pakistan. Shaheen took two wickets. Mitchell scored a fifty. He also scored one in the semi-final of the previous world cup, winning it for the BlackCaps. However, this time around it was not enough. Pakistan easily chased down the total in the last without facing any serious difficulty. Babar and Rizwan both scored the fifties. Pakistan now awaited the winner of the 2nd semi-final in the final. In this article, we will discuss how England thrashed the Blue army.
The match
England won the toss in an important match. Buttler, with no surprise, decided to bowl first. England was missing two key players. Both Mark Wood and Dawid Malan missed out on a spot due to injury. Salt and Jordan were the replacements. Sharma went with the same winning combination. England was in the mood of chasing down anything that India set on the board. India went off to a slow start. Rahul was caught behind after a sizzling delivery from Woakes. After that India couldn’t shift its gears. Sharma scored a struggling run a ball 27.
He was dismissed by Jordan. India missed the trick during the middle overs once again. Kohli preferred to rotate strike on what looked like an absolute belter to bat on. Pandya also got off to a slow start. The SKY was dismissed by Adil. Rashid and Livingstone patrolled the middle overs with a great economy with a wicket and 40 runs from 7 overs between them. Kohli went after scoring the fifty. His innings heavily dented the Indian chances as it was a pitch on which you had to score briskly. Pandya scored a brilliant 60-plus run.
He smashed the ball to every corner of Adelaide. Scoring 50 plus once again in the last three overs, India set a target of 168 for the English side. The score was a bit 20 runs short, to say the least. The reason was the short square boundaries. Pitch was also playing well, All this became evident when England came onto the bat. Hales and Buttler bamboozled the Indian bowling lineup. Kumar was taken to the cleaners.
Arshdeep couldn’t do anything special. The English openers didn’t need to force the issue. With sublime strokeplay coupled with brutal power, Hales and Buttler made it clear that they mean business. There was no resistance whatsoever on the part of India. During the drinks break, Sharma tried to fuel his men with some sort of motivational energy, however, it was not enough. Hales and Buttler parted for a record 168 runs and won it for the English side by ten wickets. They will now face Pakistan in Melbourne.
