JOIN USIndia gained a much-needed boost ahead of their ICC World T20 opener against Pakistan when they comfortably defeated England by 20 runs in their second and final warm-up game here on Wednesday.
Riding on a cavalier unbeaten 73 off 47 balls from Virat Kohli and an equally entertaining 54 off 31 balls from Suresh Raina, India scored an imposing 178 for four in 20 overs. It was a good enough total for the bowlers to restrict the opposition to 158 for six.
MS Dhoni used seven bowlers in all and R Ashwin was again the best bowler in the park as he returned with figures of one for 20 from four overs.
Raina also impressed with the ball as he gave away only 23 runs in four overs getting a wicket in the process. Left-handed opener Michael Lumb, a T20 freelancer who has played in the IPL and regularly features in Big Bash teams, took advantage of the Powerplay restrictions as he repeatedly gave charge to Bhuvneshwar Kumar hitting him over the in-field.
He in fact came out lofting him over extra cover for a six. His partner Alex Hales was a bit subdued at the other end and was cleaned up by Bhuvneshwar when he tried a heave.Having scored a quickfire 36 with six fours and a six, Lumb’s luck finally ran out as he tried to give Raina the chargebut misread the flight and was stumped by Dhoni. Eoin Morgan (16) holed out in the deep while trying to clear Ashwin over the long on fence.
Moeen Ali was slow to begin with but did play some strokes once he got his eye in. His partner Jos Butler was also in a mood to spank the spinners as he lofted Jadeja for a six over long on.The Moeen-Butler duo added 41 runs in only 3.4 overs before the former, trying to clear the fielder at the deep square-leg boundary, was caught by Ajinkya Rahane.
Brief scores: India: 178/4 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 74 n.o., Suresh Raina 54) bt England: 158/6 in 20 overs (Michael Lumb 36, Moeen Ali 46, Jos Buttler 30; Ravindra Jadeja 2-23).