England pulled off an astonishing&nbsp;230-run record chase with Joe Root (83) leading an incredible&nbsp;batting performance that powered them to a two-wicket victory&nbsp;against South Africa in the ICC World Twenty20 at Mumbai on Friday.
Required to score at almost 12 runs an over, England&nbsp;turned the chase on its head with Jason Roy and Alex Hales&nbsp;(17) putting on a blistering 48-run partnership for the&nbsp;opening wicket in just 2.3 overs.
Test specialist Root, the no. 2 ranked player in the&nbsp;world in the longest form of the game, threw caution to the&nbsp;wind during his whirlwind 44-ball knock studded with four&nbsp;sixes and six fours, as England succeeded in pulling off the&nbsp;second-best run-chase in T20 Internationals and best in World&nbsp;T20 history by making 230 for 8 in 19.4 overs, thus keeping&nbsp;their hopes alive in the mega-event.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/mar/ROOT-WT20-m.jpg" alt="Joe Root during his match winning innings of 83 against South Africa at Wankhede stadium on Friday evening." /> Joe Root during his match winning innings of 83 against South Africa at Wankhede stadium on Friday evening. Pic/AFP
The highest-ever second innings T20 total was put up by&nbsp;the West Indies, 236, also against South Africa in January&nbsp;2015, when they chased down the home team's 231 for 7 at&nbsp;Johannesburg.
Root came to the crease after openers Roy blitzed his way&nbsp;to 43 in just 16 balls with the help of three sixes and five&nbsp;fours to give England a superb blast-off in the Super 10 Group&nbsp;1 game at the Wankhede Stadium.
Coming to the crease after England had rocketed off to 71&nbsp;for 2 in 4.3 overs, Root attacked the bowling with gusto and&nbsp;set up the victory before departing, caught in the deep, when&nbsp;11 were needed off the last 10 balls.
Amidst mounting tension England crossed the finish line&nbsp;after losing two more wickets with the ninth wicket pair of&nbsp;Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid at the crease, the winning run&nbsp;coming off the former's bat.
England, who lost to the West Indies in their tournament&nbsp;opener here two days ago, next play against Afghanistan at&nbsp;Delhi on March 24.&nbsp;
Earlier, South Africa rode on belligerent half centuries&nbsp;from Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla and Jean-Paul Duminy to post&nbsp;a record-high total of 229 for 4.
A near-century opening partnership between right-handed&nbsp;Amla (58 in 31 balls) and left-handed de Kock (52 in 24 balls)&nbsp;set the stage nicely for left handers Duminy (54 not out in 24&nbsp;balls) and David Miller (24 not out in 11 balls) to finish the&nbsp;innings with a flourish with an unconquered stand of 60 in 27&nbsp;balls.
Wicketkeeper-batsman de Kock set the stage alight with an&nbsp;all-out attack in the power play before departing for 52,&nbsp;inclusive of 3 sixes and 7 fours.
Amla, playing second fiddle initially, later opened up to&nbsp;smack 58 in 31 balls with an identical number of fours and&nbsp;sixes as the opening duo gave the Proteas a flying start of 96&nbsp;in 7.1 overs.
Later, Jean-Paul Duminy struck 3 sixes and as many fours&nbsp;to make sure the early blast did not go to waste and the team&nbsp;ended with their highest and third 200-plus score in the&nbsp;tournament's history.
All of England's fast bowlers were wayward while spinners&nbsp;Moeen Ali (2 for 34) and Adil Rashid (1 for 35) were also&nbsp;expensive. Though the likes of Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada&nbsp;proved to be more expensive in the second half.
England started the run-chase in whirlwind fashion with&nbsp;openers Roy and Hales raising 44 in two overs before the&nbsp;latter departed in the third for 17, trapped leg before by&nbsp;Kyle Abbott (3/41).
Hales had struck SA's premier pacer Steyn for four hits&nbsp;to the fence, but got out in the next over with England on 48.&nbsp;
It was Abbott who put the skids again on England by&nbsp;getting rid of Roy, who had started the fireworks by hitting&nbsp;four fours in Rabada's opening over. The opener was caught&nbsp;behind as he tried to repeat a scoop over his shoulder that&nbsp;went for a six the previous ball.
England lost another wicket, that of Ben Stokes for a&nbsp;nine-ball 15 before the power play ended with them being 89&nbsp;for 3, in comparison to South Africa's 83 without loss, a good&nbsp;retort but only after losing three important wickets.
Imran Tahir and Duminy then bowled in tandem to shackle&nbsp;the opposition, the latter also getting rid of rival captain&nbsp;Eoin Morgan cheaply.&nbsp;
It was up to Root to keep England's hopes high in the&nbsp;company of Jos Buttler, and the duo feasted on some poorly&nbsp;directed bowling to add 75 quick runs for the fifth wicket in&nbsp;only 35 balls.
Root pulled Duminy and slashed Chris Morris for sixes,&nbsp;while Buttler smote the off spinner for another six.&nbsp;But he got out, caught in the deep midwicket region just&nbsp;inside the line off Rabada.&nbsp;
England later just about managed to squeeze home. Tahir&nbsp;was the best bowler on view with fine figures of 2 for 28 in a&nbsp;batsmen-dominated high-scoring game.

England pulled off an astonishing&nbsp;230-run record chase with Joe Root leading an incredible&nbsp;batting performance that powered them to a two-wicket victory&nbsp;against South Africa in the ICC WT20 in Mumbai on Friday

WT20: Proteas left stunned as England pull off record run chase

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / WT20: Proteas left stunned as England pull off record run chase

WT20: Proteas left stunned as England pull off record run chase

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast