India Stretched Their Legs Against England By Beating Them By 3 7 Wickets In The First Warm-Up Game!

ICC T-20 World Cup 2021: India Stretched Their Legs Against England By Beating Them By 3 7 Wickets In The First Warm-Up Game!

India has started their campaign on the positive node. The Men In Blue have beaten the England cricket team by 7 wickets in the first warm-up game which indicates that team India is ready to roar at the World Cup. Both teams tried different combinations and experimented with their batting and bowling unit.

Before the start of the super 12 leagues, each team is scheduled to play 2 warm-up games to check up on their preparation. India in their first warm-up game has outplayed the English team by 7 wickets. Before that, it was India who won the toss and elected to ball first. 

Indian Premier League has just finished but the players didn’t look tired at all. England started decently in the powerplay. The team was playing without regular skipper Eoin Morgan. Jos Butler was in charge in place of him. The opening pair of Jason Roy and Jos Butler added 36 runs in 4 overs for the first wicket. 

Mohammad Shami gave England the first breakthrough as he bowled Butler on a slower delivery. In the last over of the powerplay, England lost Jason Roy as Shami got the second wicket of the match. England was 47 for 2 at the end of pp. England’s T-20 specialist batsman David Malan couldn’t do much and got out. Leg spinner Rahul Chahar took his wicket.

On the other hand, Jonny Bairstow was showing no mercy to the bowlers. He and Liam Livingston added vital runs for the team and took the team above 100. They added 52 runs for the 4th wicket. Liam was looking good too but he got out as Shami got his 3rd of the match. Livingston made 30 runs from 20 balls with 4 fours and 1 six. In the 19th over, Jasprit Bumrah strike and bowled Bairstow to end the partnership. The wicket-keeper batsman made 49 runs in 36 balls with 4 fours and 1 six. 

Moeen Ali was the star of the England innings. He was just dealing in fours and sixes. In the last over of innings, Ali hit 21 runs off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s over. England finished their innings at 188 runs for 5 wickets. English batsmen raised a lot of concerns in India’s bowling unit. India tried five bowlers. Besides Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin, everyone was high in the economy. Shami though took 3 wickets but he gave 40 runs in 3 overs.

Bhuvneshwar conceded the most runs. He gave 54 runs from his spell with no wicket. Spinner Rahul Chahar was not good at all. He three away 43 runs from his spell with one wicket. Bumrah took one wicket by giving 26 runs. Ashwin gave 23 runs from his 4 overs. 

In response, India tried a new opening combination of KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan. Rohit Sharma was not part of the team for this match. Both openers started with a bang. Ishan Kishan was struggling initially but Rahul carried his form from IPL to WC. He blasted off 51 runs in just 24 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. Later, Ishan started connecting balls. The young gun was showing no mercy to the English bowlers. They both added 82 runs for the 1st wicket. 

England’s Mark Wood got the first wicket in the form of KL Rahul. Ishan kept playing his shots. He and Skipper Virat added another 43 runs for 2nd wicket. Lack of form continues Virat at World Cup too. He got out while trying to play a lofted shot on Liam Livingston’s ball. Then, wicket-keeper batsman, Rishabh Pant came and joined hands with Ishan. Pant was looking in good touch as always. The left-hander played a knock of 29 in just 14 balls. Ishan Kishan got retired hurt. The new man Surya Kumar Yadav fell shortly. This was India’s 3rd and last wicket. Then Pant and Hardik Pandya took the team to the winning mark in just 17 overs. 

From England, David Willey, Liam Livingston, and Mark Wood scappled 1-1 wickets each. It seems that bowling is a concern for both teams. The English team tried 7 bowlers. India will play their next warm-up game on 20th October against Australia.