India vs England, T20 World Cup 2022: Hales and Buttler hammer IND at Adelaide by 10 wickets

Jos Buttler: "I was confident about the wicket. I think first 14 overs we were good. It was fantastic batting by Hardik Pandya. My gut was saying me to go for chase."

Jos Buttler: Such a good team performance and I feel Adil Rashid had the best day. He was outstanding. He's got so much of variety and variations. He might not have taken wickets. Outside people were saying he was not taking much of the wickets but when we faced him in the nets, we knew he is bowling well. Special mention to Chris Jordon, he didn't play much going into the game.

Jos Buttler: "He (Hales) was tough to bowl to and it was nice to see him scoring all across the ground."

Jos Buttler: "Immensely proud of the guys. Far out the best performance on a day like today. High performance against a side like India. We got a very good start and put pressure on them. They had a long batting line up. I think we are a good team and that's where the performance comes from. We are tough to beat if we play well, there is great confidence in the group. I will say best performance for us in the day."

Rahul Dravid: "England played well and it's the reality. They brought the run rate down, they controlled that game. They didn't need to take any risk, not that they didn't as they played some really good shots too. It's disappointing for sure. Debacle is not the right word for it, disappointing certainly is"

Rahul Dravid: "We know he is a key player. They (England openers) put pressure on us. We thought we will control the game but we couldn't as they took on our spinners."

Rahul Dravid: "Disappointed finish in the semis. Would have liked to go in the finals. They were the better team in all departments. After a loss like this, it's tough to reflect things. Overall we ran a pretty good campaign. Showed good skills. We can look back at things we have improved on and build it for the next World Cup. Runs on the board was something...in the semi-finals....we have been batting well in the tournament. It's just that maybe when the game started, the boys said the wicket was slow and tacky. We had a good last over. We should have been able to get 180-185. It's too early to talk about that just after the game (on seniors future). This is not the right time to talk about it. We will try and build for the next World Cup."

Jos Buttler: ' I think the character we have shown since then (England's loss against Ireland) - it has been amazing. We came here very excited, there was a very good feeling. Everyone from 1 to 11 - stood up today. We always want to start fast and aggressive. Rashid was batting at 11, that's incredible to know that we have such depth. Hales used the dimensions well and he has shown his form. He was brilliant today. It's important to enjoy this, it was a brilliant performance from us. I think we need to give special credit to Jordan, to bowl 3 overs at the death coming into the semi-final, it was a tough job. He handled the pressure towards the end pretty well, especially bowling against a world class player like Hardik Pandya.'

Sriram Veera: As the camera panned to the crowd after England's thrashing win over India, Nasser Hussain couldn't hold himself back. 'They wanted to silence the crowd and have done it.' Or words to that effect. Ravi Shastri would offer a pithy assessment of India's campaign: "India may have to look at a relatively new team. A young unit, a fresh unit and built for the future." Shastri's words at the match-winning moment would unwittingly offer another perspective. When the ball sailed over long-on, over Virat Kohli's head, Shastri would scream, "It's over Virat". He meant the ball, but it also could be said about the campaign and Kohli's dream of doing well in a ICC World Cup final. It's over Virat and it's over, Rohit.

Rohit Sharma: "Very disappointing. We still batted well at the back end. Not good enough with the ball, definitely not a wicket where a team could chase in 17 overs. We just did not turn up with the ball. You cannot go and teach people how to handle pressure. Lot of these guys play under pressure in IPL and some of them are able to handle that. When it comes to knockouts, it is about keeping calm. We were a bit nervy the way we started with the ball. We wanted Bhuvi to keep it tight, on the stumps, we knew where runs are scored in Adelaide, square of the wicket, we spoke about that, but that did not happen."

"I never thought I would play a World Cup again," says Alex Hales. Well, given the way he's batted tonight, it surely won't be his last.The prodigal son of Nottingham after being exiled for three years from playing for England has been called back to the World Cup squad after mind-boggling performances in franchise cricket. [Read more]

Ravi Shastri (on Star Sports): "India may have to look at a relatively new team. A young unit, a fresh unit and build for the future."

England needed five to win off the last 25 deliveries and Jos Buttler wouldn't let it go into the next over. A smash over long on. England win by 10 wickets and set up the 2022 T20 World Cup final with Pakistan. A 170 run unbeaten opening stand between the England skipper and Alex Hales.Sweet Caroline being sung loud at the Adelaide Oval. It was 30 years back that the three lions played their last World Cup final in Australia and lost to the same opposition they face this Sunday. But the way they have stamped their authority over this semifinal, Pakistan would surely be wary of their opponents.

Devendra Pandey: The body language of the Indian team said it all. In the break, Rohit Sharma tried to pump in some confidence with a small pep talk. They were desperate for a wicket but they couldn't find one as Jos Buttler and Alex Hales dominated the Indian bowlers with ease. They found the middle of the bat on a consistent basis. Indian bowlers remained clueless and so did their plans. The fielding was in shambles too.

Axar Patel bowls the most economical over in India's innings. Just two off that 15th. But it comes a little too late as England just require 13 off the last 30 deliveries.

England spinners: 1/41 in 7 overs

India spinners: 0/55 in 5 overs

A total of 40,094 have been in attendance for this second semifinal at the Adelaide Oval today.

Nihal Koshie: Why didn't Mohammad Shami just throw it directly to the wicketkeeper from fine leg using his bowling arm? Fast bowlers posted in the outfield do try and preserve their bowling arm - fair enough, because Buttler was not really charging and trying to steal an extra run after the scoop to Hardik Pandya. But Shami got the first part of the relay throw wrong. Instead of an easy ball pass to his teammate, Shami ended up overthrowing it. The ball travelled to the third man region and the fielder who was to collect the ball from Shami was also wrong-footed. Like they don't say, it takes two to not tango.
By the time the ball got back, Buttler and Hales had completed running four runs. Hardik conceded just 7 runs, the most economical of the England innings. Hardik, however, was understandably displeased. Rohit Sharma would let out an anguished cry and signal to Shami that he should have thrown it properly - he would gesture out the over-arm throw. Pandya would stand hands on his hips and glare. At the IPL, he once had a verbal spray at Shami for a fielding lapse. This time he just stood there, sullen.

Sandip G: Hardik Pandya was livid; Rohit Sharma hurled a volley of expletives. Mohammad Shami looked away. He had just made the most hideous (or clumsy?) effort when picking the ball near the fine-leg boundary. Jos Buttler had scooped Pandya and Shami sprinted 30 yards to save the four. A fine effort until that moment. But instead of gathering the ball, steadying himself and throwing it back at the keeper, he hurled the ball at Bhuvneshwar Kumar, just five yards out, running from the third man, but over to him. Kumar leapt like a spiker setting up a smash, but the ball sailed over him. In the chaos, Buttler picked two more runs for an all-run four. 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by ICC (@icc)

Sandeep Dwivedi: It was the moment when even the most original of commentators end up uttering this cliche - "This sums up the game." Hales had helped along a Hardik Pandya ball on the pads towards fine leg. Guarding that part of the ground was Mohammad Shami, still fresh after having bowled just one over. He ambled to the ball and for no rhyme or reason opted for a relay throw. Shami could have easily thrown the ball to the keeper but he lobbed to a team mate who wasn't ready for this out-of-box uncalled-for line of thinking. The ball travelled well over his head and ran towards the third man. What was just a single resulted in four runs. Rohit Sharma was left screaming at the top of his voice. That wasn't the game changing moment but Rohit knew he too, like his predecessor Virat Kohli, might not win a ICC trophy.  

Abhishek Purohit: Adil Rashid bowled a brave spell, tossing it up and slowing it down more than he usually does, and was rewarded with the big wicket of Suryakumar Yadav. According to Cricviz, Rashid went below 80kph more than he had in any other game in the tournament. England’s quick start did take that cushion away from India’s spinners to take more risks, but even otherwise, both Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin generally operate at much quicker speeds. In fact, Axar bowled one at 99 kph in his third over after being pulled for six by Alex Hales. On an evening when slowing it down had worked for the England spinners, Axar made no impact with his fired flatbreads.

Sandeep Dwivedi: Jos Buttler was at the non-striker's end four times in Ashwin's first over. India was desperate for a wicket as the England openers were running away with the game. And that's when the camera man and broadcasting producer showed his game awareness and sense of history. The square angle came into play and followed Ashwin approaching the crease and crossing the stumps. No, Buttler wasn't leaving the crease. Not today, no way. When you are leading England's march into the final you watch your steps and don't jump the gun.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by ICC (@icc)

Sandip G: Alex Hales’s favourite batman was Kevin Pietersen. The influence is evident, from the way he sets up in the crease, lower-body a bit crouched, the biceps bulging from, the tattoos winking, intimidating opponents with his size and aggression, the shuffle across, the high back-lift and the whiplash downswing of the bat. Like Pietersen, he often takes a couple of forward strides, stands tall and then thunders the ball through the off-side. Like the six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, where he launched Kumar over extra cover. He whip-pulls (brutalises anything remotely shot) and sweeps  like Pietersen too. Apart from the flamingo pull that Pietersen patented, he does a reasonable impersonation of his idol. 

Another biggie from Alex Hales. This one off Axar Patel and that'll bring his fifty. The partnership reaches to 84 off the first eight overs. 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by ICC (@icc)

Sandeep Dwivedi: Jos Buttler and Alex Hales have both represented 10 plus T20 franchise teams. They have traveled the world hitting all kinds of bowlers out of the boundary at virtually every venue in the world. They are part of IPL and other slam-bang leagues in Australia, West Indies, England wherever cricket is played. On the other hand, the Indian top order are spoken of as all-format batters and two of them are greats of the game. But for a handful of T20I games abroad, they mostly play the shortest version at home. In the conditions they are aware of, they are seen as the stars of their team. Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli are giants of the game in ODIs and Tests but together in a T20 team they are a liability. There have been several debates about them bunched together at the top of India T20 team. Today, Buttler and Hales, in bold red font, put it officially on the wall that India needs to rethink their T20 approach. After scoring 63 runs in 6 overs, they showed how it is done. 

Pakistan had killed the chase in the powerplay itself in the first semi-final against New Zealand with a score of 55/0. England doing the same to India with a Powerplay tally of 63/0.

Nihal Koshie: The first over was a mini clash.  Bhuvneshwar Kumar has had Buttler in all sorts of trouble in the past - he's gotten him 5 times and had averaged 6. An early strike had the potential to set the tone for the game. Buttler got going straight away, with a drive past point. To prevent Buttler from advancing to negate the swing, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant asked for the helmet and stood up. Buttler was now stuck in the crease but he was good enough to use his quick hands to carve out some runs. He found two more boundaries - width driven through point and an easy flick through mid-wicket. The first over went for 13 runs and Buttler had struck the first blow.

50 partnership up for Buttler-Hales. England aren't lifting their foot off the pedal here and India are completely on the backfoot int the powerplay. Shami concedes 11 off his first over. 58/0 after five overs. 

Abhishek Purohit: Those couple of fours through covers by Jos Buttler in Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s opening over have had India putting in place a sweeper in the deep on the off side. While that did offer some protection, it also led to a more predictable outside-off line from Bhuvneshwar. Alex Hales took advantage, and smoked a six over extra cover in Bhuvneshwar’s second over. Even the sweeper couldn’t do anything about that.

Mihir Vasavda: Can't keep Kohli out of action for long. Buttler's silenced the crowd and flattened India's body language with four glorious boundaries - three of them, off Bhuvi. Arshdeep comes in, Buttler firmly pushes a full toss towards mid-off, where he finds Kohli. The ex-India captain collects the ball aggressively, throws it at the non-striker's end and then gestures at Alex Hales, as if to say 'I got my eyes on you'. It infuses others -- players and fans -- with some energy, momentarily at least.

Hales goes inside out against Bhuvneshwar Kumar's knuckle ball and it travels all of 84m for England's first maximum of the innings. 12 runs come of the over. 33/0.

A handy second over for England as Buttler grabs another boundary off Arshdeep Singh. Gets a thick edge off a slice and beats the fielder behind square on the off side. Eight off the second, 21/0.

Hardik squashes England plans; Kohli peps himself up & Rohit’s timing is way off, the India vs England T20 World Cup semifinal emotional rollercoaster. [Read more]

Following a wide off the first ball, India bring Rishabh Pant forward to the stumps off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 'Mind games' reckons Ravi Shastri on the mic. But Jos Buttler is unfazed as the England captain picks the man who got him on a couple of occasions earlier this summer for two boundaries on the off side and then wraps the over with a flick for four on the leg side. Bit of movement for Bhuvneshwar but no success. Good first over for England. 13/0.

The Indian team has got done with their huddle as the two England openers, Jos Buttler and Alex Hales walk into the middle. Captain Buttler takes guard. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has the new ball. Here we go.

Scoring 50 off 40 deliveries in the second semifinal of the 2022 T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli became the first batter to cross the 4000 T20I run mark. The former India captain was also the first to breach the 3000-run mark in the shortest format for India.

Hardik might have played one of the best innings of his career. The right-hander was on 4 runs from the first 9 balls and all hell broke lose he flicked the switch alright! he made 59 from the next 24. India was going nowhere after the first 13 courtesy of some big hitting by Virat 50(40) and Hardik the team scored 88 runs in the next seven. It is not the biggest total in the world to chase down. But given England's run chases off late it is something to ponder upon. The onus is on Bhuvi and Arshdeep to provide wickets with the new ball.

The right-hander came in when the team was in trouble. A couple of wristy sixes a flat batted six over cover for six of Sam Curran. Some scintillating shots from the all-rounder. This inning is taking India to a score which can be fought for.

Nihal Koshie: A short film on Virat Kohli's emotions while batting needs to be put together. These days Kohli talks a lot to himself while out in the middle. Even before he went after Haris Rauf in the Group 2 game against Pakistan and pulled off the famous win, Kohli was pumping himself up, talking, shaking a clenched fist, nodding his head. Against England in the semifinals, Kohli was animated. When Hardik dispatched Sam Curran over the cover region for a six, it was Kohli who was at his expressive best. It seems like he is feeding off his teammates to get his adrenaline rush going. Even when he found the boundary, Kohli was telling himself that he should have found a six. He used a pointed index finger in the direction the ball should have landed.

A simple moong dal and rice khichdi. Tempered with some mild spices and ghee. Semi-dry, but always served warm. The homely fragrance of this humble comfort food invariably has been wafting from an apartment close to the hotels in Australia where the Indian team with Hardik Pandya has been staying.

Abhishek Purohit: Despite the short square boundaries at Adelaide Oval, Chris Woakes began with three successive shortish deliveries to Hardik Pandya, whose stronger suit against pace is the fuller length. Teams have successfully pegged Pandya back with the hard lengths in this tournament and Woakes was looking to do the same. That approach comes with a smaller margin of error given the dimensions of this ground, though. But even Chris Jordan, who favours the pitched-up deliveries and yorkers, was willing to use the hard pulled-back length to Pandya.
Sam Curran tried the same tactic, but at his pace, it didn't come off, as Pandya was able to ride the bounce and thump him flat over extra cover for six. Curran had to change to fuller lengths. 
Then Pandya dug into Jordan too when he bowled full.

Hardik looks in the mood. Jordan trying to restrict the room Hardik flicks one into the stands. Jordan misses a couple of yorkers Hardik makes full use of them. Hardik is playing a vital hand here.

Mihir Vasavda: Hardik Pandya smacked one straight over the umpire's head for a four. Liam Livingstone looked a bit rattled. And Buttler was doing a Dhoni. The next ball, the England captain got a fielder right behind the umpire, knowing that's the region Pandya gets a majority of his runs. It was a move right out of the Dhoni playbook - the former India captain did the same in the IPL two years ago to dismiss Kieron Pollard. The West Indian ended up hitting straight at the fielder back then. Pandya, though, was more judicious and rotated the strike. Not a wicket, as Buttler would've hoped, but at least keeping the leash on.

Mihir Vasavda: Less than run-a-ball at half-way stage, a juicy full toss, Kohli fails to connect, and a loud 'aargh!' Kohli's big heave on the leg fetched him only a run and that show of emotion, not rare for Kohli, also captured the feelings of an Indian fan, who'd have been left frustrated by the inability of the batsmen to get going. Dravid had an animated discussion with Kohli and SKY during the drinks break but the first ball after that was more of the same - a wide ball outside off, a big swing and another miss.

Sriram Veera: Yesterday New Zealand batted cautiously (critics said timidly) as if they had misread the pitch and aiming for a 160 type total. Today Indians have been batting as if thier mind says we need a big total here but defeated by a slightly slow track. They have been ungainly, going too hard into their shots, led by thier captain Rohit Sharma. A touch desperate as they aren't sure of the right target to set and worried perhaps that the pitch might quicken up under lights during the chase. It has taken Surya to come and show that you can wait and time the ball here for the big shots. No need to hack. But under pressure to amp up the run rate, he too would hole out to sweeper cover.  It was a lovely delivery by Adil Rashid, slowing up the pace, still tossing it up, dragging Surya out of shape and into a mis-timed shot. All through Rashid - called a "match winner" by his teammates Sam Curran and Mark Wood just the other day - showed why he is so valued by his team.

As soon as Surya came into the crease. Ben stokes has packed his fielders on the leg side. He kept bowling the leg stump line not allowing SKY to have his boundary early and giving him room. That made him fidgety he tried forcing shots rather than timing them. That caused the downfall of SKY. Brilliant planning and bowling by Butler and co.

Abhishek Purohit: The pitched-up off-cutter is an important weapon at Adelaide Oval – the lack of pace combined with the long straight boundaries make it harder for batsmen to hit sixes. For the on-pace full delivery, the ground does present a dilemma, especially if there isn’t too much swing, like in this semi-final. Bowlers can overdo that length to try and prevent the cross-batted shots to the shorter square boundaries. And as the boundaries over extra cover from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma showed, the on-pace full length can disappear too when allied with some width. But Chris Jordan’s slower, pitched-up delivery to Rohit was on the stumps, denying any width and forcing the straighter hit to the long rope, causing the Indian captain’s downfall.

Nihal Koshie: His timing was off, he was a little late on the ball and the runs were not flowing like he would have liked. In a knockout semifinal, Rohit Sharma wasn't at his fluid best. An attempted slog sweep off Chris Woakes had hit the toe end of the bat and Sharma for the second time in the game shook his head in frustration. Four overs were up and something had to give. In the next over he worked Sam Curran over short midwicket for a four. But the next stroke was very un-Sharma-like. The fluid artist decided that hitting himself out of bad form could be the way out. He moved down the track and smashed the ball with a horizontal bat rather ungainly. The back leg was in the air as he pivoted on the other leg. Sharma had dumped elegance for effectiveness.
After lofting it over cover to Chris Jordan, the Englishman would have the last laugh. Keeping his off timing going, he would swing wildly at one that nipped back three balls later. It came off the top of the bat, and Sam Curran dived to end the laboured struggle. 

Rohit middling a few edging a few finally gets out. Trying to hit over the cover corner he gets out.

Sriram Veera: When Nasser Hussain bantered with Ravi Shastri, mimicking his "tracer bullet" line on air, Shastri would laugh. The mind went back to his response to his famous lines on commentary. Like this tracer bullet.
"It just happened. With the flow, you can’t plan abhi karna hai. When it actually goes like a bullet, you can say it. Someone told me once (about using that word a lot), and I told him, ‘enjoy it!’ Every day, you can’t think of new words. Some guy came and told me about the tracer bullet thing. That match I told him, “you are seeing it for the 15th repeat, that’s not my fault!” When they keep showing the match 15-20 times, and you go, he has said tracer bullet again! I said it once, you are seeing it 20 times! It’s not my headache na!" he told The Indian Express. Mind it Nasser.