ADELAIDE: In the second semifinal of the Men's T20 World Cup at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, Alex Hales and Jos Buttler each scored fascinating fiftys to help England defeat a somnambulant India by ten wickets. With four overs left, Hales blasted 86 not out off 47 balls and Buttler smashed an unbeaten 80 off 49 balls to stylishly chase down India's 168/6.

After a convincing victory, England will now play Pakistan in the tournament's championship match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, exactly 30 years after the two countries squared off in that match's 1992 ODI World Cup final.

India's batsmen were out of alignment and did not pose a threat to the opening duo of Hales and Buttler, who put them under pressure right away. They were also more than careless on the field, which allowed England to completely outplay them and dominate the game in every facet.

Buttler understood that Bhuvneshwar Kumar would be his biggest threat in the first over of the 169-run chase. He moved over and down to let his hands speak for him by taking three fours in the first over as a countermeasure to the pacer.

With the help of Buttler's two fours off Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel through the off-side and Hales' six over cover off Bhuvneshwar, England needed just 3.2 overs to match India's power-play total.

The more aggressive of the two, Hales smacked Mohammed Shami over mid-off for six and sprinted past the keeper for four more. As Hales and Buttler struck him for six and four runs, respectively, to end the power play unharmed, Axar came under even greater attack.

Following the end of the power play, Hales increased the pressure on the Indian spinners, swiping Ravichandran Ashwin for six and rocking back to drive Axar over deep mid-wicket for another maximum to reach fifty runs by the end of the eighth over.

Hales then added another six via slog-sweeping off Ashwin, bringing up the opening stand's century with a six against Hardik Pandya over deep mid-wicket. Buttler blasted Pandya over fine leg for four runs before pulling a six over deep square leg to reach fifty.

In the fourteenth over, Buttler then struck Shami for two fours and a six, and he also received some relief when mid-off failed to take the catch and parried the ball to the boundary rope. In keeping with the occasion, Buttler disposed of Shami over long-on for a magnificent six to advance to the championship.

Brief Scores: India 168/6 in 20 overs (Hardik 63, Kohli 50; Chris Jordan 3/43, Adil Rashid 1/20) lost to England 170/0 in 16 overs (Alex Hales 86 not out, Jos Buttler 80 not out) by ten wickets.

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