India defeated England by 7 wickets in the first warmup match played at the ICC Academy in Dubai on Monday night in a high-scoring contest. India will now take on Australia in the second and final warmup match which will be played on October 20, before the start of the main tournament of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in which they will face arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24.
In reply to England’s first innings total of 188/5, India scored 192/3 from 19 overs, thus winning the contest by 7 wickets and 1 over to spare. KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan were the key performers for India with the bat as they provided their team a strong start in a big chase against one of the title contenders of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in England.
It was India who decided to field after winning the toss and it looked like the decision made by their outgoing captain, Virat Kohli was wrong to a certain extent. England openers Jason Roy and Jos Buttler provided the team with a brisk start, adding 36 runs inside four overs. However, Mohammed Shami accounted for both the England opening batsmen as Roy fell for 17 from 13 balls whereas Buttler made 18 from 13 balls.
The world No 1 T20 batsman Dawid Malan made an 18-ball 18 and he was dismissed for buy India legspinner Rahul Chahar, who cleaned up the English No 3 batsman to keep India on top.
Jonny Bairstow top scored for England with 49 from 36 balls with the help of four boundaries and a six before his innings was cut short by India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who denied the English wicket-keeper batsman a half-century. England all-rounder Liam Livingstone made 30 from 20 balls with four boundaries and a six, and towards the end, another all-rounder in Moeen Ali smacked two sixes and four boundaries to make 43 not out from 20 balls as England finished at an impressive total of 188/5 in their 20 overs.
Shami was the pick among the bowlers for India as he returned with figures of 4-0-40-3 whereas Bumrah and Chahal claimed one wicket each.
India made a confident start to a big chase as their star opening batsman KL Rahul announced his form on the global stage. Rahul hammered six boundaries and three sixes to make 51 from only 24 balls, but the top scorer of the innings was Kishan, who struck three sixes and seven boundaries to make 70 from 46 balls before he was retired not out.
India captain Kohli made 11 from 13 balls but it was the unbeaten pair of Rishabh Pant (29 not out) and Hardik Pandya (12 not out) which took India past the finish line with one over to spare. For England, who used as many as seven different bowling options, only three were among wickets which were David Willey, Mark Wood and Livingstone.
