India have arrived in England for their one-off Test match, which will kick off on July 1. Before that, the side will play against county side Leicestershire in a practice game. But currently, fans of the game in the British country are in awe of some of the individual performances by players in the T20 Blast. On Tuesday, one such player displayed his prowess but was unfortunate to be on the losing side in Nottinghamshire's defeat to Leicestershire.
The English opener was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction in February for a base price of Rs 1.5 crores but pulled out before the tournament citing his mental health concerns and his apprehension of spending another couple of months in a bio-bubble. He was then replaced by Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch.
On Tuesday, Hales smashed five fours and two sixes in an innings of 55 runs from 43 balls at a strike rate of 127.90. Chasing a target of 170 runs, Hales was the only Nottingham batter who shone in the match, as wickets continued to fall around him. Hales' team only managed 123 runs as they were bowled out in 19.4 overs, losing their sixth match of this season's T20 Blast.
Earlier in the game, Leicestershire chose to bat first after winning the toss, scoring a competitive 170 runs but losing all their wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. Leicester's Lewis Hill was their highest scorer with 39. Meanwhile, 29 runs were scored by Ben Mike, and Viaan Mulder contributed 27 runs.
Among the Leicester bowlers, Afghanistan's Naveen-ul-Haq did not allow Nottinghamshire's batter to gain a foothold in the match, with four wickets for 24 runs in his 3.4 overs.
