Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya hit half-centuries as India finished with a total of 168/6 after being asked to bat first by England captain Jos Buttler in their semifinal at the Adelaide Oval at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

After topping Group 2, Rohit Sharma and Co were up against England, who finished second in Group 1, and finished with a decent total in the semifinal thanks to the knocks by Kohli (50 off 40) and Pandya (63 off 33).

Blog: T20 World Cup, India vs England semifinal

India, the 2007 champions, didn’t get off to a strong start in the match. They were 31/1 after five overs, 62/2 after 10 overs, and 100/3 after 15 overs. It was the late assault by Pandya, who hit four fours and five sixes in his knock, that took the team to a respectable total.

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KL Rahul hit the first ball of the innings for four but was soon dismissed for 5 off 5, as his poor run against more established teams in this World Cup continued.

Captain Rohit, too, struggled at the start and managed to hit four fours before being caught in the deep for 27 off 28.

Suryakumar Yadav, the top-ranked T20I batter in the world, looked promising again but was dismissed by leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who returned with excellent figures of 1/20 from his four overs.

Kohli and Pandya then got together and added a 61-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Kohli wasn’t at his fluent best but his runs were crucial, while Pandya was off to a slow start but showed his boundary-hitting prowess at the death to give India a much-needed push.

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Rishabh Pant, who was retained in India’s playing XI ahead of Dinesh Karthik, came to the crease in the 19th over and was run-out, sacrificing his wicket for Pandya, for 6 off 4.

Chris Jordan, who was in the England side as a replacement for the injured Mark Wood, was the most successful bowler in the innings with three wickets for 43 runs.