Hardik Pandya started as a pedestrian but accelerated in the last five overs. 58 runs were made in the last four overs owing to Pandya going all blazing over the English bowlers. If the batters had played from the start like this, India’s score would have looked much better; however, all they mustered up was a decent target of 168/6.
India would have added four more runs to the total hadn’t Pandya smashed his stumps for a hit-wicket out off the last ball of the innings. The final over was bowled by Chris Jordan. On the last ball, he pitched a length ball which Pandya attempted to flick to the square boundary, but he failed to control his weight, his backfoot touched the stumps and departed off the hit-wicket dismissal.
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Pandya ended up scoring 63 runs off 33 balls (with four fours and five maximums). Apart from him, Kohli also played his part by scoring 50 runs off 40 balls. He also reached a milestone by becoming the first batter to reach the 4000-run mark in T20I.
Despite Hardik Pandya’s knock, India faced a 10-wicket defeat
India certainly weren’t happy with their total in front of a team that has destructive batters like Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, and Liam Livingstone. But English batters did not break a sweat because their openers, Buttler and Hales, easily chased down the target with 24 balls to spare.
It was indeed such a humiliating defeat for the Men in Blue. Their World Cup campaign has been running smoothly until today. In the all-important semi-final, they played without showing any intent. The English opening duo was putting on a show, smacking the bowlers like a child’s play.
From the very beginning, England attacked, unlike India’s defensive approach. England cared not why their opponents had a lackluster show with the bat. Buttler and Hales were roaring to finish the match and scored 80* off 49 and 86* off 47, respectively. In no time, India yet again faced a 10-wicket loss in the T20 World Cup.
