Mohammed Shami bowls during the match against Namibia. (ICC Twitter)
India had made only one change to the team, brining Rahul Chahar in place of Varun Chakravarthy
With only the pride to play for after missing out on a semifinal berth from the weaker of the two groups in the Super 12, India fielded a strong team against minnows Namibia in their last game of the T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
In his last match as T20 captain, Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field. His bowlers, led by the brilliant Ravichandran Ashwin (4-0-20-3) and Ravindra Jadeja (4-0-16-3) then restricted Namibia to 132 for eight in 20 overs.
India entered the field wearing black armbands as a mark of respect to Tarak Sinha, the legendary Delhi coach who passed away on Saturday at the age of 71 after a two-year battle with cancer.
Sinha had produced 12 international cricketers during his illustrious coaching career. And his most famous pupil, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, was in the thick of things on Monday, taking two catches behind the stumps.
Scotland failed to capitalize on a fine start provided by their openers Stephan Baard (21) and Michael van Lingen (14) who shared 33 runs in 4.4 overs.
But after Jasprit Bumrah (4-0-19-2) had Lingen caught by Mohammed Shami at mid-off, the Namibians lost their vigour, losing wickets at regular intervals.
David Wiese (26 off 25 balls) did put up a fight with the bat, but it was number 10 Ruben Trumpelmann (13 not out off six balls) whose late flourish allowed Namibia to post a decent total.
India had made only one change to the team, brining Rahul Chahar in place of Varun Chakravarthy.
Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.