Dubai: India produced a power-packed performance with the bat on Monday to beat England by 7 wickets in their first warm-up match at the T20 World Cup in Dubai. Chasing 189 for victory, the 2007 champions rode on destructive half-centuries from Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul to cross the finish line with 6 balls to spare.Kishan and Rahul opened the batting and added 82 for the first wicket to lay a solid foundation for the run chase before the latter got out against the run of play for 51 to Mark Wood.
Virat Kohli, who dropped to No. 3 to accommodate Rahul at the top, suffered a rare failure with the bat, scoring just 11 off 13 balls.
But Kishan carried on attacking the English bowlers and top-scored with 70 not out off 46 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes before being replaced by Suryakumar Yadav, but the move didn’t work as he couldn’t fire as per expectations and got out for 8 with India needing 21 off 15 balls.
Fortunately the duo of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya did the needful and knocked off the required runs without much trouble. Pant finished the match with a six and ended up with 29 not out while Pandya scored 12 not out.