Alex Hales and Jos Buttler carry England into final with 10-wicket mauling of India

Alex Hales (86* off 47) and Jos Buttler (80* off 49) put on a T20 batting masterclass – and a World Cup record highest partnership of 170 – to decimate India by 10 wickets and set up a final date with Pakistan. Put in to bat first on a friendly Adelaide surface, Hardik Pandya’s counterattacking 63 at death and Kohli’s assured 50 made up for a poor start with the bat but only just about got India to a par score of 168/6. The English opening pair, however, made it look pedestrian with their aggressive knocks and overhauled the target with four overs to spare in a statement win ahead of the title clash.

KL Rahul’s heroics were limited to just the first-ball four to kick off the semifinal. He was undone by the extra bounce and offered a regulation catch to Buttler off Chris Woakes in the second over. Kohli then joined hands with Rohit Sharma to take India to a respectable 38/1 from their powerplay. Despite the beating he took from Rohit a little while later, Sam Curran did test Kohli a fair bit – beating his outside edge and even got him edging the next one that fell just short in slips. However, Kohli got going with a sublime lofted drive over extra cover ropes and Rohit made up for the dots he’d chewed up earlier with back to back fours off Curran. While Kohli went to register his fourth fifty this World Cup, Rohit’s scratchy stay in the middle came to an end after a run-a-ball 27, after him having survived a second caught-and-bowled chance.

Suryakumar did look at his usual 360-degree best for as long as he lasted in the middle – a top-edge of an attempted swivel pull sailing comfortably over fine-leg ropes and the lofted four over the cover fielder’s head on the very next delivery, off Stokes. But Adil Rashid stunned the sea of blue at the Adelaide Oval into silence when he had the No. 1 T20I batter stepping out and misting the short one from the leggie to sweeper cover after making just 14. India had slipped to 77/3 at the end of 12.

They get to 168 with the Hardik Pandya blitz. He had support from Kohli, who chipped in a 40-ball 50 himself, but Pandya stepped up just when the team needed it the most from him to take India to the par score. He was slow to start, but kept the assault going on either side of Kohli’s fourth half-century this World Cup. India scored 58 in the last four overs, of which Pandya alone made 50. He took Curran and Jordan to the cleaners at death, hitting five sixes and three fours. When Jordan dropped it short, he was pulled to deep midwicket, and when he missed his yorker, Pandya brought out the helicopter to whip it to deep square, kicking off the 18th over with back to back sixes. The moment he tried a short one, Curran was similarly pulled to the deep midwicket stands in a massive 20-run penultimate over as Pandya reached a 29-ball fifty. Between Rishabh Pant’s run-out and his own hit-wicket off the final ball of the innings, Pandya even cleared the longest boundary of the ground with a 84m strike into the long-on stands.

England were at their best in the powerplay. Buttler got the chase underway courtesy with three boundaries in the opening over. Every time, Bhuvneshwar Kumar either over-pitched or offered width, he was punished. Hales joined the act in the pacer’s next when he shimmied down the track and carved a length ball over the cover boundary. India were forced into bowling changes, but Mohammed Shami and Axar Patel were both welcomed into the attack with a six and a four each with Hales doing the bulk of damage. England had already raced away to 63/0 at the end of the powerplay, and set a solid platform for the chase.

The English opening pair did not relent even after the fielding restrictions were off, and it didn’t take long for the cluelessness to reflect in India’s body language. There was not a ball where either Buttler or Hales looked troubled as they kept mounting the boundaries almost at will. Hales sent a short one each from Axar and Pandya sailing into the crowd at deep midwicket on either side of the drinks break, raising his 28-ball fifty with the first and the century partnership with his captain off the second. Buttler took 36 balls to his half-century, but got there with a four and six off successive deliveries in Pandya’s third over before taking Shami to the cleaners in the 14-run 14th over. The first boundary-less over in England’s chase was the ninth, and the only other was 15th when the equation was already down to 13 needed off 30.