Hales and Buttler hammer India as England reach T20 World Cup final with 10-wicket win

Powered by two fantastic innings from Jos Buttler (80* off 49) and Alex Hales (86* off 47), England stormed their way into the final of the 2022 T20 World Cup with a 10-wicket annihilation over India at Adelaide. After Hardik Pandya’s turbo-charged half-century took India to 168 for six in their innings, the two openers smashed a T20 World Cup record 170-run partnership in just 16 overs to book England’s date with Pakistan in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

India began the day with a boundary as KL Rahul cut Ben Stokes for four off the first ball of the innings, but the Men in Blue’s fortunes only cratered from that point onwards. Rahul was undone by an extra bit of bounce from Chris Woakes to depart for five, while neither Kohli nor Rohit Sharma could take on the English bowlers in the powerplay, with India managing just 38 runs in the first six overs.

Sharma was caught in the deep by Sam Curran following a laboured innings of 27 from 28 deliveries before England got the big fish, Suryakumar Yadav, thanks to some superb bowling from Adil Rashid. Yadav provided some brief entertainment with a pair of consecutive boundaries against Ben Stokes to liven up the crowd, but the ICC number one ranked batter skied Rashid to Phil Salt at deep point to leave India in a precarious position at 75 for three.

Virat Kohli kept India ticking with another half-century, but it was Hardik Pandya’s explosion at the end which pushed India towards a par score. The all-rounder scored just 13 runs off his first 15 deliveries before coming into his own at the death. Pandya smashed five sixes and three fours against Sam Curran and Chris Jordan to help the Men in Blue score 58 runs in the final 24 deliveries.

Chasing 169, England wasted no time in going after the Indian bowlers. Jos Buttler nonchalantly stroked three fours in Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s opening over to set the tone, and the English openers tore apart the rest of the Indian attack with ease. Hales leant into the finger-spinners – Axar and Ashwin – to take England to 63 for no loss at the end of the powerplay and raced away to a 28-ball half-century without breaking a sweat.

The openers continued their assault throughout the middle period as India failed to create any meaningful opportunities to pull themselves back into the contest. After playing second-fiddle to Hales at the start, Buttler got in on the action with a pair of boundaries against Hardik Pandya, and the two openers pressed their foot on the accelerator throughout the chase to mow down the Indian target with four overs to spare.

Following this devastating rout over the number one ranked T20I side, England will face Pakistan in the final at the MCG on Sunday and following their famous victory in 2019, Jos Buttler’s side could become the first nation to hold both World Cup trophies at the same time.