England storm into final as Hales, Buttler punish India

The predicted promoters' dream of a Pakistan-India T20 World Cup final has instead become a re-run of the famous 50-over tournament of 30 years earlier as England put on a batting clinic to surge into Sunday's play-off in Melbourne.

After a flurry of late-hitting by India's Hardik Pandya (63 off 33 balls) lifted his team to a barely par score of 6-168, England's opening pair Alex Hales and Jos Buttler rewrote the tournament script and record books with an unbeaten opening stand that brought a 10-wicket win with four overs to spare.

So dominant were the pair, at times India were made to resemble an associate team as they bumbled in the field and botched their bowling plans as the England duo posted their country's highest first-wicket partnership.

Image Id: C5C2A99A6F304CECA7BB5E35853B47EC Image Caption: England’s opening pair, just like Pakistan’s 24 hours earlier, proved the matchwinners // Getty

The associates jibe might seem unfair given the stirring efforts of Netherlands and others in this competition, but records show the benchmark for unbeaten first-wicket stands – which Buttler and Hales could have conceivably broken had they been chasing more – is 213 by Gibraltar against Bulgaria.

Perhaps fittingly, England's place in Sunday's final – where they will be chasing their second T20 World Cup crown having defeated Australia in 2010 – was sealed when Buttler clubbed a six over long-on that cleared the outstretched fingers of Virat Kohli on the boundary rope.

He swung his bat in triumph, finishing 80 not out (off 49 balls) and embraced Hales (86no off 47) by which time many of the India fans among the crowd of 40,494 had headed for the exits.

Image Id: F7A034D0C8C64A35B97BA541B0BE562C Image Caption: Buttler celebrates the match-clinching six // Getty

Buttler had been quizzed in the match eve media conference about how he planned to cope with India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar who had the England skipper's measure in earlier meetings.

His emphatic answer came just over 24 hours later, as he took three boundaries from the first over of the innings sent down by his rival, then another for good measure from the first ball he faced from Arshdeep Singh as England's pursuit began as if shot from a gun.

That pace only quickened as Hales found his range, hammering a remarkable 50 from 28 balls that was strewn with five sixes and a solitary boundary.

The expansive opener clearly enjoys batting at Adelaide Oval where his three most recent knocks in the BBL had brought 183 runs at an average 91.5, and he and Buttler's familiarity with conditions courtesy of numerous stints in the Australia domestic competition could only have been a benefit.

 

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"This is one of the best grounds to bat at in the world, especially in the Powerplay," Hales said in receiving his player of the match award at game's end.

"It's great value for good cricket shots with the smaller square boundaries.

"It's a ground I've got good memories at, and a ground I enjoy batting at.”

India's batting was stymied by England's spinners Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone who conceded just 41 runs from their combined seven overs, but when India introduced left-arm spinner Axar Patel inside the power play he could exert no such influence.

Instead, he was beset upon by Hales as he and Buttler took to the biggest stage to fashion England's highest-ever opening partnership in T20 internationals against India.

Image Id: B2FA5C9FC59A4AC99E3A63A74D37A143 Image Caption: Hales hammered seven sixes in a dominant innings // Getty

In what quickly became a re-run of Pakistan's comfortable win over New Zealand a night earlier, India's effort was best summed up by the comic fielding effort that gifted Buttler an all-run four in the ninth over.

Mohammed Shami scooted around the fine leg boundary to easily intercept Buttler's deft ramp shot, but in attempting to flick the ball to fellow fielder Kumar he lobbed it metres above his colleague's head and into a vast space of outfield from where Kumar was forced to retrieve it.

India's army of fans, many of whom beat drums and danced outside Adelaide Oval's southern gates before play began, had come in expectation of batting heroics from the tournament's leading scorer Virat Kohli and its biggest drawcard, Suryakumar Yadav.

But while Kohli provided the backbone of his team's innings and Yadav blazed briefly like a strip of magnesium ribbon set ablaze, it was Pandya who left them baying for more with an audacious final-overs assault.

India appeared bound for a total well below the 168-run par for this course when Kohli fell for 50 (his fourth half-century from six innings in the tournament) and the score stood at a decidedly skinny 4-136 after 18 overs.

But Pandya pushed so deep in his crease he ultimately stood on his stumps, and flicked yorker-length balls from England's 'death bowling' specialists Sam Curran and Chris Jordan with such power and impunity he plundered 26 from the final eight balls he faced across two decisive overs.

In doing so, he raced to 50 off 29 deliveries courtesy of a Ben Stokes misfield on the deep cover boundary, noting it had taken the masterful Kohli 39 balls to post the same milestone as England's spinners and seamers excelled in the first 15 overs.

Image Id: F658402B96B6404EAF56AE985F3F8163 Image Caption: Hardik cleared the rope five times in a death-overs blitz // Getty

Kohli had revealed prior to tonight's game how he had been looking forward to playing at Adelaide all tournament, hardly surprising given his average across all three international formats at the venue coming into the game was 75 with five centuries and three fifties.

When he punch-drove Chris Woakes beyond extra cover for six in the fourth over, it seemed another triple-digit score might be in the offing.

But England's re-cast bowling line-up – with Chris Jordan called up to replace their fastest and most successful bowler of the World Cup, Mark Wood, who succumbed to a hip injury – kept their usually free-scoring rivals in check in a six-over power play that yielded 1-38.

By contrast, Buttler and Hales had bludgeoned England to 0-63 from their first six-over phase, by which stage the India fans were stunned into solemnity, if not quite silence.

Jordan's only T20I appearance since July had come at Canberra during the Dettol Series against Australia, having missed most of the preceding months due to a finger injury, but he removed India skipper Rohit Sharma in his first over.

Image Id: 5E786086A3684A9E9EBD7B4194C8E304 Image Caption: Kohli passed 50 for a fourth time in six innings this T20 World Cup // Getty

However, it was the efforts of England's spin duo Adil Rashid (1-20) and Liam Livingstone (0-21) that proved pivotal, as the pair dropped their pace and found sufficient to regularly leave batters the quality of Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav scratching for their timing.

It was Rashid's removal of India's freakish new batting hero Yadav – who had entered the arena to an even more rousing reception than Kohli – that brought a hush over the hyped crowd.

Yadav had threatened to turn on another pyrothechics show when he launched Stokes for six and four off consecutive deliveries an over prior, but in attempting to lift the leggie over cover even his sublime skill could not carry the ball beyond the boundary.

Kohli passed 4000 T20I runs on the way to his 50, but it was left to Pandya to apply the frenzied finish with 50 runs coming from the final 18 deliveries he faced.

The promoters' dream of an India-Pakistan final was seemingly being built on a recurring World Cup semi-final nightmare for Jordan, whose 23-run over late in last year's tournament was instrumental in New Zealand ultimately making the play-off against Australia.

But even though he and Curran went for 47 from the final three overs of India's innings in the face of Pandya's brazen batting, the total wasn't far from the 165 Buttler had identified as par prior to the game.

And which seemed decidedly less than daunting once he and Hales got into their work.

Men's T20 World Cup 2022

Semi-final 1: Pakistan beat New Zealand by seven wickets

Semi-final 2: England beat India by 10 wickets

Final: Sunday November 13, MCG, 7pm AEDT

Click here for all 2022 T20 World Cup results