In a warm-up match, Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul lead India to a 7-wicket victory over England
India warmed up nicely with a seven-wicket win over England in their first practice match ahead of the T20 World Cup, with KL Rahul’s harsh yet graceful fifty sealing the second opener’s discussion, while his opening partner Ishan Kishan also seized the opportunity. As India pursued a goal of 189 with an over to spare, Rahul made batting look easy with six boundaries and three sixes in his 24-ball 51, while Kishan was injured after a chiselled 70 off 46 balls that included three sixes and seven boundaries.
Rahul’s touch would have impressed skipper Virat Kohli as a punch in a game where the result was secondary, as he struck some spectacular sixes off Chris Woakes and also treated Mark Wood with disdain.
Once Rahul was gone, Kishan, who may have to wait out if he is not playing as an opener, did his case no hurt by punishing the spinners, including a brilliant six off Adil Rashid.
In the first game, India checked off several boxes, including two veteran pacers, Jasprit Bumrah (1/26) and Mohammed Shami (3/40), who started the ground running with fast and accurate deliveries. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the third angle in this ‘triangle,’ however, regularly missed the length, letting up 54 runs in four overs.
Kohli (11) did not score a lot, but it is the last thing on the Indian team’s mind. Suryakumar Yadav (8 off 8 balls) looked a little scratchy throughout his brief spell. Rishabh Pant (29 not out, 14 balls) hammered the bowlers. Hardik Pandya, the team’s “designated finisher,” arrived at the crease with 21 runs needed off 15 balls, and he played a few streaky strokes in his 12 not out in 10 balls.
After being called in to bat, the England batters tossed their willows around to get some quality time in the middle on a nice surface at the ICC Academy ground here.
Jason Roy (17 off 13 balls), Jos Buttler (18 off 13 balls), and Liam Livingstone were all dismissed by veteran Shami, who bowled longer lengths and smart variations (30 off 20 balls).
After being hammered for two boundaries, Buttler was done in by a change of pace where the length was slightly shortened and the pace was taken off, while Livingstone was castled by an old-fashioned yorker.
Even in a warm-up game, Bumrah bowled an unplayable yorker to deny Jonny Bairstow a half-century (49 off 36 balls). On the field, he was undoubtedly India’s finest bowler, while Bhuvneshwar seemed out of place.
Fresh off his IPL exploits, Moeen Ali (43 not out off 20 balls) increased England’s total in the last over. The match that Ravi Shastri and skipper Kohli were most interested in was the battle between teenage leg-spinner Chahar (1/43 in 4 overs) and seasoned off-spinner Ashwin (0/23 in 4 overs) for the third spinner’s position.
Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy are the two spinners the Indian team is certain would be in action when the season begins. Both players were rested after playing in an IPL final just a few days prior, as well as playoff games.
While Chahar bowled a googly to dismiss ICC World No. 1 T20 batsman Dawid Malan (18 off 18 balls), he wasn’t as consistent with his length as Ashwin, who went wicketless but wasn’t penalised.
Unlike Chahar, who appeared penetrative at times, the English hitters had little trouble milking Ashwin for singles and several inside-out shots over extra cover. Overall, India played well, precisely as they would have hoped for in a warm-up game.