Rahul & Kishan shine in warm-up match against England, won by 7wickets.
T20 World Cup 2021: Team India’s opening batsman KL Rahul smacked an elegant half-century in the first warm-up match against England where his opening partner Ishan Kishan did no less to brutally harass the Englishmen to seal the deal for India with a seven wickets win.
In the match where the results were secondary, Rahul simplified the opening conundrum for Virat Kohli as he scored a blistering 51 runs in a mere 24 delivers which included six boundaries and three sixes. The dashing opening batsman has announced his arrival in some style and is ready to pair alongside flamboyant Rohit Sharma in India’s T20 World Cup matches in the opening slot.
Sharma was rested for the match as the intention was to give enough game time to all the players. He is likely to return in the second warm-up match against Australia.
Ishan on the other hand did everything right to punish the English bowlers. The swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman picked up his form where he left after the final IPL match of Mumbai Indians. He tonked huge sixes against the spinners and plundered 70 runs from 46 balls before he left the field retired-hurt.
Skipper Virat Kohli was dismissed cheaply for 11 runs but this will be of least concern for the Indian team.
Suryakumar Yadav seemed to be on a rough side during his brief stay at the crease. The Mumbai cricketer had eight runs from nine deliveries before he was dismissed.
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Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya wrapped the game for team India as the duo added 24 runs in no time after SKY’s dismissal. Pant scored 29 from 14 deliveries while Hardik Pandya scored 12 from 10 balls.
Team India opted to bowl after winning the toss against England.
The bowling would be a concern for the Indian management. A few bowlers did exceedingly well while a few missed their chances. Mohammad Shami remained the pick of the bowlers as he scalped three wickets from his quota for four overs.
India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah remained economical as always with his one wicket for 26 runs in four overs. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar failed to hit the deck right as the pacer was swept for a massive 54 runs in his four overs with his wicket box remaining empty.
The spinners did fairly well in the match. Senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, though, didn’t pick any wicket, he remained the most economical bowler in his four overs. The off-spinner just conceded 23 runs. On the other hand, Rahul Chahar picked a wicket and gave away 43 runs at an economy of 10.80.
For England, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali scored the most runs as they smacked 49 and 43 respectively. Stand-in skipper Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan added crucial 18 runs apiece during their short stay.
Opener Jason Roy scored 17 runs while Liam Livingstone helped with his 20 balls 30.
England’s innings finished on a high as they mustered a mammoth total of 188 runs in the loss of five wickets. India, in response, did exceedingly well to outperform the opposition and chased down the target with one over to spare.
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