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T20 World Cup: India thrash Scotland to keep semifinal hopes alive

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India's KL Rahul celebrates after scoring a half century against Scotland. (AFP)

India's KL Rahul celebrates after scoring a half century against Scotland. (AFP)

After restricting Scotland to 85 all out, India reached home in just 6.3 overs

Published: Fri 5 Nov 2021, 9:54 PM

Updated: Fri 5 Nov 2021, 10:11 PM

For the second straight match, India played like a champion. Having outclassed Afghanistan on Wednesday for their first win of the T20 World Cup after the twin debacles against Pakistan and New Zealand, Virat Kohli’s men dismantled Scotland.

An outstanding performance from the bowlers set the tone for India’s eight-wicket win at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

On a Friday evening that had a nip in the air, Scotland found the Indian bowlers too hot to handle as they collapsed to 85 all out.

Then India found their top gear in the chase, thanks to some sumptuous stroke-play from KL Rahul (50 off 19 balls, 6 fours and 3 sixes) and Rohit Sharma (30 off 16 balls, 5 fours, 1 six), as they reached the target in just 6.3 overs, improving their Net Run Rate to 1.619.

The thumping win may have kept their semifinal hopes alive, but India’s fortunes still depend on Afghanistan.

With New Zealand (NRR 1.277) comfortably winning their match against Namibia in Friday’s early match, India desperately need Afghanistan (NRR 1.481) to beat the Kiwis on Sunday.

Having put India to the sword in their second game after losing their opener to Pakistan, New Zealand haven’t put a foot wrong in the tournament.

The Kane Williamson-led team are in second place with six points after four matches and a win for them on Sunday against the fourth-placed Afghanistan (four points) will earn them a place in the semis.

Afghanistan, a team loaded with fearless cricketers, could also sneak into the semis if they mark their T20I debut against New Zealand with a big victory.

Mathematically, all three teams are in with a chance to secure the second semifinal spot from Group 2 behind the already-qualified Pakistan.

But if New Zealand don’t slip up in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, India will have nothing but pride to play for in their last game against Namibia in Dubai on Monday.

Naturally, Kohli was Afghanistan’s biggest cheerleader after guiding India home on Friday.

“A dominating performance today, something that we were striving to do again. Now it will be interesting to see what happens on the 7th of November (in the game between New Zealand and Afghanistan),” Kohli said at the post-match presentation.

Bowlers excel

Considering Scotland’s lack of experience when it comes to playing top-notch slow bowlers, the Indian think tank went into Friday’s contest with three spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy.

While Chakravarthy (3-0-15-0) and Ashwin (4-0-29-1) had modest returns, Jadeja (4-0-15-3) was outstanding, picking up key wickets in the powerplay and middle overs.

But it was Jasprit Bumrah (3.4-1-10-2) and Mohammed Shami (3-1-15-3), India’s two experienced fast bowlers, that stole the show with their pace and accuracy.

Opener George Munsey (24), who hit Bumrah for a six in the first over, Michael Leask (21) and Calum MacLeod (16) did try to put up a fight, but the Indian attack kept delivering one blow after another to clean up Scotland in just 17.4 overs.

“We were outclassed in every department. The only way we're going to improve is by getting games like this,” Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer said.

While there’s no shame in losing such games to a big team for Scotland, it’s India that might be left ruing their failure to come out of their shell in their two big games against Pakistan and New Zealand.



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