England have stormed into the T20 World Cup final as Jos Buttler and Alex Hales combine to guide their side to a 10-wicket victory over India.

Having been set 169 to win, Buttler and Hales produced a record-breaking unbeaten opening stand of 170 to secure the win for England with four overs to spare.

As well as being England's highest-ever opening stand in this form of the game, it was their second-highest for all wickets, only trailing a third-wicket stand between Dawid Malan and Eoin Morgan against New Zealand in 2019 by 12 runs.

Such was England's dominance in Adelaide on Thursday that they could have surpassed that total within a few balls, with Buttler and Hales hitting 10 sixes between them in 16 brutal overs.

England now head into a showdown with Pakistan - opponents who they recently edged out 4-3 in a best-of-seven series on away territory - at the MCG on Sunday.

After winning the toss, England collected three wickets within the first 11.4 overs, but it was restricting India's run-rate which was the main take from a fine spell of bowling.

With three overs remaining, India had compiled just 121, and it took a swashbuckling innings of 63 from 33 balls from Hardik Pandya to keep his side in the game.

Five maximums featured in that knock, helping India accelerate after Virat Kohli had made 50 from 40 deliveries, and posting 168-6 was a respectable total given the circumstances and occasion.

Chris Jordan, who replaced the injured Mark Wood, recorded figures of 3-43, but it was Adil Rashid's 1-20 off his four overs which really swung the game in England's favour.

After the nerves which were on show during a must-win game against New Zealand at the weekend, England supporters would have expected more of the same in the face of constant pressure from India's bowling attack.

However, what they witnessed was yet another remarkable run chase in the team's recent history. While the one on Thursday was not as dramatic as those in the Test arena earlier this year, it was equally captivating as Buttler and Hales obliterated one of the best bowling attacks in limited-overs cricket.

The pair went on the attack from the off, particularly Hales who at one stage had hit five sixes compared to one four, and once the opening stand had delivered 100 runs in 61 balls, it was clear that only wickets would give India any chance whatsoever.

Those dismissals did not materialise and after Hales had moved into a position where he was threatening a century, Buttler eventually caught his teammate as England moved closer to their target.

Fittingly, captain Buttler brought the match to a close with a six - his third of the innings - to take him to 80 from 49 balls, with Hales's 86 coming from 47 deliveries.