Fifties from KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan at the top of the order led India to a seven-wicket win in their first warm-up game of the T20 World Cup against England.
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India recorded an impressive victory over England on Monday in a warm-up match in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup on Monday. Virat Kohli had won the toss and elected to field. The Three Lions posted 188-5 on the board in 20 overs and India made 192-3 in 19. Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul constructed a fine partnership for the first wicket to lead their team to a fine victory. Both openers reached their half-centuries at a quick pace, with Rahul making 51 and Kishan scoring 70.
The match was decided in the 19th over of the second innings which saw England pacer Chris Jordan bowl two no balls which ultimately proved to be costly. Until then, the game was evenly poised. India needed 16 runs off nine balls when Jordan bowled the first of the two illegal deliveries of the over. The victory would give India a lot of confidence ahead of their second warm-up game against Australia on October 20.
Rahul and Kishan gave the men in blue a flying start to the run chase. Both batters scored half-centuries with Rahul making 51 runs off just 24 deliveries and Kishan scoring 70 runs off 46 balls. The latter was not dismissed but retired hurt. His injury might be a cause for concern for the 2007 T20 World Cup winners.
Skipper Virat Kohli could not quite make an impact with the bat as he only scored 11 runs off 13 deliveries. Suryakumar Yadav was also unimpressive as he made just eight runs off nine balls. However, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant played a fine knock as he made an unbeaten 29 of 14 deliveries. Hardik Pandya also remained unbeaten until the end and made 12 off 10 balls.
There was not much luck for the England bowlers in the match. The Three Lions could only bag three wickets and the performance will be something the team will need to improve upon. David Willey, Mark Wood, and Liam Livingstone picked one wicket each for England.
England will, however, be pleased with the performance of their middle-order. Jonny Bairstow played a fine knock as he scored 49 runs off 36 deliveries. Moeen Ali also batted brilliantly, scoring an unbeaten 43 off only 20 balls. Liam Livingstone played a useful cameo of 30 runs off 18 deliveries.
Mohammad Shami might have conceded 40 runs in four overs, but he was India’s highest wicket-taker on the day, bagging four wickets. Jasprit Bumrah and Rahul Chahar picked one wicket each on the day.
Sri Lanka trounced Namibia on the day as they recorded a comfortable victory by seven wickets. The Lankan Lions were the ones to field first in the match and they restricted their opponents to under 100. Namibia were bowled out for 96 in 19.3 overs with Sri Lanka scoring 100 runs for the loss of three wickets in just 13.3 overs.
There was a scare for the Lankans as they found themselves in a bit of peril when they were 26-3. However, a fine partnership between Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa saw them comfortably over the line. Fernando scored 30 runs off 28 deliveries and Rajapaksa made 42 off 27 balls.
In the bowling department, Maheesh Theekshana stole the show for the Lankans as he picked three wickets in four overs and conceded only 25 runs. Lahiru Kumara and Wanindu Hasaranga picked a couple of wickets each while Chamika Karunaratne and Dushmantha Chameera bagged one wicket each.
