India warm up with hot chase

Dubai, October 18

India’s batting prowess was on display as they chased down England’s huge total of 188 with seven wickets and one over to spare in their first warm-up match for the T20 World Cup here on Monday night. With India needing 20 off the last two overs, Hardik Pandya struck three fours and Rishabh Pant hit the winning six in the 19th over from an erratic Chris Jordan. Jordan bowled two no balls and conceded 23 runs in the over. Pandya remained unbeaten on 16 off 10 balls while Pant made 29 not out off 14 balls.

India’s chase had been powered by a first-wicket partnership of 82 off only 50 balls between KL Rahul (51 off 24 balls) and Ishan Kishan, who made 70 off 46 balls before retiring at the end of 15th over, which enabled Suryakumar Yadav to come in for a bit of batting.

However, Yadav (8 off 9 balls) and captain Virat Kohli (11 off 13) were the two sole batting failures of India, though the manner of the win gives evidence of the batting depth in the team.

Shami, Bhuvi expensive

Earlier, Mohammed Shami hit the straps with a fast and accurate spell that fetched him three wickets while Ravichandran Ashwin and Rahul Chahar were locked in an engaging contest for the third spinner’s slot as England scored 188/5.

The England batters also threw their willows around to get some quality time in the middle on a good surface at the ICC Academy ground here after being put in to bat.

Shami, who had figures of 3/40, bowled fuller lengths and came up with clever variations as he got the wickets of openers Jason Roy (17 off 13 balls), Jos Buttler (18 off 13 balls) and Liam Livingstone (30 off 20 balls). Buttler was done in by a change of pace after Shami was hit for two boundaries, while Livingstone was castled by an old-fashioned yorker. Jasprit Bumrah, who ended up with 1/26 in four overs, bowled an unplayable yorker to prevent Jonny Bairstow (49 off 36 balls) from getting a half-century. He was easily India’s best bowler on view while Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0/54 in 4 overs) clearly struggled.

Moeen Ali, fresh from his IPL exploits, beefed up England’s score in the final over, ending up with an unbeaten 43 off 20 balls. However, the contest that head coach Ravi Shastri and captain Virat Kohli would have watched keenly was between leg-spinner Chahar (1/43 in 4 overs) and veteran off-spinner Ashwin (0/23 in 4 overs). The two are in contention for the third spinner’s slot as and when the situation demands.

The team management is pretty certain about Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy being the two first-choice spinners. The two had also played in the IPL final just a few days back and both were rested for today’s match. While Chahar removed Dawid Malan (18 off 18 balls) with a googly, he wasn’t consistent with his length like Ashwin, who went wicketless but gave away only 23 runs in four overs. — TNS, agencies