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| India humiliated, England cruise into World Cup final | | | agencies
ADELAIDE, Nov 10: A thoroughly professional England annihilated an out-of-sync India by 10 wickets to sail into the World Cup final as Alex Hales and Jos Buttler's relentless hitting mortified Rohit Sharma's clueless attack here on Thursday.
England seemed to have saved their best for the grand stage as they reduced the semifinal to a lop-sided affair, courtesy a splendid bowling effort which they complemented with some breathtaking stroke-making.
It was Hardik Pandya (68 off 33 balls), whose fearless hitting took India to 168 for six but it was just about a par-score at the Adelaide Oval.
England captain Buttler (80 not out) set the tone with three boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar's opening over but it was Hales (86 not out off) who butchered the Indian attack into submission with India badly missing a leg-spinner in its line-up.
England prevented an India-Pakistan final by achieving the target in just 16 overs.
The England opening duo gave India's star-studded line-up a lesson in how to build a T20 innings: that there is only one way, the offensive way.
It was one match that was decided in Powerplay as India managed only 38 runs in six overs as the archaic style of safety-first approach hurt them terribly.
In complete contrast, England's top order which looked shaky throughout the league stage, smashed 63 in their six overs. The match was won and lost then and there.
"Pretty disappointed how it turned out today. We batted well at the back end to get that score. We were not up to the mark with the ball. It was definitely not a wicket where a team can come and chase it down in 16 overs. With the ball we couldn't turn up today," Rohit said.
"When it comes to knockout stages, it's all about handling the pressure. Depends on the individual as well. You can't teach anyone to handle pressure. When these guys play the playoffs in the IPL and all that, those are high-pressure games, and they're able to handle it."
Hales hit as many as seven sixes in his 47-ball knock and his approach showed that there were no demons in the track. He deployed the old-fashioned 'Sanath Jayasuriya school' of hitting in the first six overs.
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