Hardik Pandya rose to the occasion at the present T20 World Cup on Thursday and played a scorching half-century knock, leading India to a score of 168/6 against England at the Adelaide Oval.
Virat maintained the team’s innings by smashing a fifty and continuing his love affair with the Adelaide stadium. After a sluggish start, Pandya 63(33) added the finishing touches, and a late flourish from him lifted India to a par score. When England decided to field instead of batting, they got off to the best possible start, dismissing KL Rahul in the second over after the batsman slashed a boundary over point on the opening pitch of the game. The right-hander only managed to score 5 since he was unable to duplicate his last game’s heroics (5).
The tournament’s top run-scorer, Virat Kohli, stepped out to bat and immediately established his dominance by slamming a gorgeous six over the covers to Chris Woakes on the first delivery of the third over.
When Sam Curran received two straight boundaries from captain Rohit Sharma, the burden on the batter was relieved. In the sixth over, he also dismissed Adil Rashid for a boundary, bringing India to 38/1 at the end of the powerplay.
While Rohit was having trouble connecting with the ball, India’s star hitter Virat continued to play aggressively and hit Liam Livingstone for a boundary in the seventh over, ultimately leading to his dismissal for 27(28).