World Cup T20: Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina take India to 20-run warm-up victory against England

Indian batsman Virat Kohli (R) congratulates Suresh Raina after Raina scored a half century during the ICC World Twenty20 tournament’s warm up cricket match between England and India at The Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on March 19, 2014.

India defeated England by 20 runs in their second warm-up fixture at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, courtesy of impressive batting performances from Virat Kohli (74* off 48) and Suresh Raina (54 off 31) after an initial stutter, ahead of their all important World Cup T20 opener against Pakistan on March 21.

Having been put into bat first by the England captain Stuart Broad, India got off to a disappointing start losing both their openers Rohit Sharma (5 off 8) and Shikhar Dhawan (14 off 15) cheaply. While Rohit pulled straight to deep backward square leg, Dhawan’s cut shot was well caught by James Tredwell at cover. With Yuvraj Singh following suit and the score at 39-3 in 6 overs, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina combined to rescue the team and put together a 81-run partnership in the next 8.5 overs.

Kohli, on 39 off 30, by the time Raina was dismissed for a 31-ball 54, then shifted gears to make sure England did not comeback into the game. He plundered the bowlers for plenty of runs at the death overs, thereby helping India set a imposing target of 179. MS Dhoni remained unbeaten on a 14-ball 21 at the other end.

In contradiction to their recent performances, England top order got off to a terrific start with Michael Lumb taking the Indian bowlers to the cleaners. The southpaw’s dismissal, stumped off Raina, proved to be the turning point of the match, as England, despite useful knocks from Moeen Ali (46 off 38) and Jos Butler (30 off 18), found the target too steep to chase. In the absence of Kevin Pietersen, England lacked an accomplished batsman who can take the game away from the opposition. Eoin Morgan’s early dismissal did not help their cause either. Bopara, coming in at 6, can hardly make any impact, and today was no exception.

From the bowling perspective, although none of the Indian bowlers stood out, a combined effort from the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Raina, who picked up 4 important wickets between them, proved to be enough for the MS Dhoni-led team to come out winners on the day. Raina’s form (54 runs at 174.19 and bowling figures of 4-0-23-1) is probably the best news from an Indian fan’s perspective, but the way the openers have been playing of late doesn’t look good going into the tournament.