England steamrolled India as they cruised to a win in 16 overs, chasing down 169 without losing a wicket in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup being played in Australia.

Big hits by openers Jos Buttler (80 not out off 49 balls) and Alex Hales (86 not out off 47 balls) marked England’s innings. Buttler hit nine 4s and three 6s, Hales had four 4s and seven 6s.

India’s bowlers leaked too many runs without ever threatening to take a wicket. 

England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to field first. 

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India’s batters scored 168-6, just not enough runs. The top and middle order could have shown some more intent in the first 15 overs, which saw only 100 runs being scored. 

India scored 68 runs in the last 5 wickets mostly courtesy a valiant knock by Hardik Pandya, who scored 63 off 33 balls.

They had a patchy start, losing KL Rahul in the second over and scoring only at a little over 6 runs an over in the power play.

After Rahul’s exit, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma dug in till the ninth over, when Rohit heaved Chris Jordan to wide long-on. Sam Curran took a stunning, diving catch. 

Surya Kumar Yadav or SKY brought early promise of another sweet innings when he cut loose in the 11th over with a 6 over the wicketkeeper followed by a four over extra cover. 

But the revival was short lived as he soon perished, skying a shot intended to go over extra cover.

Virat Kohli anchored one end with a fluent, riskless innings, getting to his 50 off 39 balls, before he was out caught by Adil Rashid off a Chris Jordan delivery in the 18th over.

By then Hardik Pandya, who started slow and patchy, had taken charge, racing to his half century off 29 deliveries. India scored 32 in the last two overs, 68 in the last five.

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Pandya was out to a rare hit wicket off the last ball of India’s innings. Three deliveries before that, Rishabh Pant missed a ball through to the wicket keeper. Hardik ran to the batsman’s end, effectively sacrificing Pant’s wicket.