T20 World Cup: Pandya helps India make 168/6 against England

England came up with a superlative bowling performance, but Hardik Pandya rose to the challenge with a magnificent performance as India made 168/6 in the second semifinal of the ICC T20 World Cup in Adelaide on Thursday.

After being put into bat, India struggled from the start and it seemed England would restrict India to a low score.

But Pandya (63 off 33 balls), who was the last batsman to fall, played an outstanding knock after walking in at number five to keep the Indian hopes alive.

Virat Kohli (50, 40 balls), the tournament's leading run-scorer, was the only other batsman to have put up a fight against the disciplined English bowling attack.

India suffered an early blow when opener KL Rahul (5) was caught behind off Chris Woakes in the second over of the innings.

Skipper Rohit Sharma (27 off 28 balls) and Kohli attempted to put India back on track, but the England bowlers never allowed the two world-class batters to free their arms for the big shots.

Rohit eventually fell in the ninth over while going for a shot, brining the red-hot Suryakumar Yadav into the middle.

Suryakumar (14 off 10 balls) failed to provide the fireworks tonight as spinner Adil Rashid broke into wild celebrations after getting the dangerous Indian batter caught in the deep.

But Kohli and Pandya hit the top gear after India reached the 100-mark in 15 overs.

Pandya was super aggressive in the five overs with emphatic pull shots that cleared the boundary ropes, eventually helping India score 68 runs in the final five overs.

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