ICC World T20 2021, IND vs ENG (warm-up): KL Rahul-Ishan Kishan show helps India triumph by 6 wickets
On Monday, India was off to a winning start in its warm-up clash against England in the ICC World T20 2021 in Dubai. It was a strong batting show by India that has helped it in gaining some confidence.
FollowOn Monday, India came up with a strong batting show to tame England by six wickets in its warm-up tie of the 2021 ICC World T20 at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai. Openers KL Rahul (51) and Ishan Kishan's (69) strong show was the key behind India's successful chase.
Winning the toss, Kohli elected to field, while England was off to a shaky start, losing openers Jason Roy (17) and skipper Jos Buttler (18) by the sixth over of the Powerplay, with 47 runs on the board. 30 runs later, Dawid Malan (18) fell to spinner Rahul Chahar.
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However, it was followed by a 52-run stand between Jonny Bairstow (49) and Liam Livingstone (30) before the latter was knocked over by seamer Mohammed Shami in the 15th, at 129. At the same time, the former suffered the same fate off pacer Jasprit Bumrah in the 19th, 34 runs later.
Nonetheless, Moeen Ali (43) provided some late fireworks to allow England to post a challenging total of 188/5. India put five bowlers into the attack, with Shami claiming a three-for, while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the most economical of all.
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In reply, the Indian openers Rahul and Kishan were off to a flier, scoring 82 runs before Rahul fell to pacer Mark Wood in the ninth. A 43-run stand resulted between Kishan and Kohli (11), as spinner Liam Livingstone got rid of the skipper in the 13th.
While Kishan had scored his half-century by this time, he retired out in the 16th over, making way for Suryakumar Yadav (8), who pacer David Willey dismissed in the 18th at 168. Nevertheless, the pair of Rishabh Pant (29*) and Hardik Pandya (12*) saw out the game with six balls to spare, courtesy of some poor bowling from pacer Chris Jordan in the 19th.
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England utilised seven bowlers, with Willey, Wood and Livingstone being the only wicket-takers, while the latter was best with his economy.
Brief scores: England 188/5 (Bairstow- 49, Moeen- 43*; Shami- 3/40) lost to India 192/3 in 19 overs (Rahul- 51, Kishan- 69; Livingstone- 1/10) by six wickets.
