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India win big to set up knockout clash with West Indies
India set up a virtual quarter-final against West Indies on Sunday with a comfortable win against Zimbabwe on a night that Abhishek Sharma scored his maiden World Cup fifty and India made a small tweak in their batting combination to unleash the second-highest total in T20 World Cups, going two past the 254 Zimbabwe conceded in their last match. Six men batted for India, their innings lasted 15 to 30 balls, and their strike rates ranged from 158.33 to 275. In all, they hit 17 sixes, the most for India in a single T20 World Cup innings.
Zimbabwe asked India to bat first expecting help for fast bowlers. Their reading of conditions was accurate, but the execution was much better from the much more experienced India bowlers, who kept them to 33 in five overs, post which there was hardly any way back.
Zimbabwe, now out of the tournament, dropped two costly catches, taking their tally in Super Eight to five in two matches after having missed just one in the whole first round. A defiant unbeaten 97 from Brian Bennett was the only consolation for them.
Samson breaks up left-hand cluster
India finally admitted their cluster of three left-hand batters at the top was giving offspinners a match-up to exploit, that Suryakumar Yadav was not going to be promoted to No. 3, and sacrificed some lower-order hitting of Rinku Singh to bring in Sanju Samson. Zimbabwe were anyway looking to open with their tall fast bowlers, both of whom Samson hit for sixes down the ground off the back foot in the first two overs. He eventually fell for just 24 off 15, but he was part of India’s biggest opening stand this tournament: 48 off 3.4 overs.
Unlike earlier matches, Abhishek neither charged at the quick bowlers nor gave away his stumps. It took him only three balls to unveil an inside-out drive over extra cover for four. It turned out to be a no-ball as well, and he sent the free hit for a straight four. Abhishek got to 33 off 13 in the powerplay as Zimbabwe refrained from using spin before the field spread out.
As soon as the powerplay ended, Sikandar Raza and Brian Bennett bowled two overs without a boundary to Abhishek and Ishan Kishan. Neither of them panicked, Ishan used power, Abhishek his feet, and both got past the hurdle.
It took only his 26 balls but Abhishek’s maiden World Cup fifty was the second-slowest of his 11 scores of 50 or above in T20Is.
Dropped catches hurt Zimbabwe
Had Zimbabwe held on two pretty straightforward chances, Kishan would have been dismissed for 26 off 19 and Suryakumar for eight off four. The duo ended up with 38 off 24 and 33 off 13. The innings was set up beautifully for Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma to finish off.
The finishing kick
Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma added an unbeaten 84 off 31 balls, hitting four sixes each, almost racing each other. Hardik was the only one that ended up with a fifty, but he had a headstart of 12 runs when Tilak came out to bat. Tilak was the quicker one, striking cleanly from the first ball, using space both in front of and behind square. Hardik mainly used power to go down the ground, and caught up with and went past Tilak with two sixes off the last two balls of the innings.
Early movement makes it a bridge too far for Zimbabwe
Arshdeep Singh conceded just one boundary in his first two overs, Hardik extracted appreciable seam movement with the new ball, and at 25 for 0 in four overs, Zimbabwe were looking at 14.5 per over to stay alive in the tournament.
Spinners strike
Axar Patel, left out for the last match because of an abundance of left-hand batters, took two balls to get a wicket, that of the left-hand batter Tadiwanashe Marumani. Varun Chakravarthy took to 19 his streak of taking at least one wicket in a T20I with the wicket of Dion Myers.
Bennett shines, cause for concern for India
In the end, India were comfortable victors by 72 runs, but they will not like that Varun went for 35 runs, conceding three sixes, and that their sixth bowler Shivam Dube had a terrible night out with 46 off two overs. Thanks to South Africa’s win over West Indies earlier in the day, India were under no pressure to secure a big win so they did experiment more than they usually would have.
Zimbabwe ended up getting 184 thanks largely to Bennett, who showed he had a higher gear in him after he went the first round scoring in the 130s without a single six. Here he hit six sixes and scored at 164.4. As the hundred approached, though, Arshdeep shut Zimbabwe out with three wickets in two overs, which also meant Bennett was starved of strike in the end. Arshdeep went past Jasprit Bumrah as India’s leading wicket-taker in T20 World Cups.
Brief scores:
India 256 for 4 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 24, Abhishek Sharma 55, Ishan Kishan 38, Suryakumar Yadav 33, Hardik Pandya 50*, Tilak Varma 44*; Richard Ngarava 1-62, Blessing Muzarabani 1-42, Tinotenda Maposa 1-40, Sikandar Raza 1-29) beat Zimbabwe 184 for 6 in 20 overs (Brian Bennett 97*, Tadiwanashe Marumani 20, Sikandar Raza 31, Tony Munyonga 11; Arshdeep Singh 3-24, Varun Chakravarthy 1-35, Axar Patel 1-35, Shivam Dube 1-46) by 72 runs
[Cricinfo]
South Africa successfully defended 136 in an 18-over game against Ireland in the Women’s T20 World Cup warm-up fixture in Loughborough . The experienced Marizanne Kapp led the way with the ball, her 4 for 24 helping South Africa dismiss Ireland for 120 in 17.4 overs. Shabnim Ismail, who had recently reversed her retirement, picked up 1 for 25 in her four overs.
Leah Paul was the only Ireland batter to pass 20 in their chase. Apart from Paul, only four Ireland batters got to double figures.
After South Africa were asked to bat first, they posted 136 for 8 on the back of captain Laura Wolvaardt’s 65 off 37 balls, including seven fours and three sixes.
SCORES:
South Africa Women 136 for 8 in 18 overs (Sune Luus 17, Laura Wolvaardt 65, Annerie Dercksen 26, Nadine de Klerk 11, Aimee Maguire 1-13, Arlene Kelly 3-29, Cara Murray 2-13, Ava Canning 2-08) beat Ireland Women 120 in 17.4 overs (Rebecca Stockel 19, Leah Paul 29, Alice Tector 17, Louise Little 13, Arlene Kelly 15; Marizanne Kapp 4-24, Shabnim Ismail 1-25, Tumi Sekhukhune 2-18, Nadine de Klerk 1-16, Nonkululeko Mlaba 1-25) by 16 runs
(Crickinfo)
In the 11th over, KL Rahul edged a cut to the keeper off Ziaur Ahmed when he was on 16. Afghanistan did not review the not-out decision. In the 61st over, Rahul flicked a full ball off his pads, bringing up a gritty century – his 12th in Test cricket. Afghanistan’s bowling attack had been worn down in the intervening period. They could not cash in on their half-chances aplenty, in their first Test against India since their format debut in 2018. Instead, Rahul – alongside a regal Shubman Gill – headlined India’s march to 368 for 3 on day one in New Chandigarh.
The city was hosting a men’s Test for the first time. Temperatures soared up to 40 degrees Celsius, and India captain Gill opted to bat first, expecting the pitch to worsen as time wore on in the match. However, Afghanistan’s new-ball bowlers – Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohamed Saleem – extracted uneven bounce off the pitch right away. They kept bowling back-of-a-length deliveries to Jaiswal and Rahul, moving the ball away from the openers.
Rahul reached for deliveries far from his body early in the day, often mistiming his shots. He ambled away to 16 off 34 by the end of the 10th over. At the other end, Jaiswal pounced on fuller deliveries with more regularity to race to 20 off 26.
Then, in the 11th over off Ziaur, Rahul slashed at a wide delivery and both bowler and keeper went up with a big appeal. However, they opted out of the review. Replays later showed Rahul had edged the delivery. Rahul rode his luck thereafter, leaving balls outside off, and dead-batting fuller ones that gripped in the pitch.
In the next over – the 12th – Jaiswal leaned into a front-foot drive off Mohammad Saleem. Then he jumped at an inswinger drifting down leg, and tried to flick it off his hips. He edged it to the keeper instead. Against the run of play, Jaiswal departed for a 32-ball 24, giving Saleem his maiden Test wicket.
Soon after, the new-ball swing dissipated and the bounce became less treacherous. B Sai Sudarshan made full use of this period of play at the back end of Saleem and Omarzai’s extended spells. He laced three fours in his first 15 deliveries.
In the 35th over off Ziaur, Sai Sudharsan stepped out of his crease for a tentative defense outside off. His edge dissected the wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai and first slip. Eight overs later, with Sai Sudharsan looking set for his maiden Test century, the batter played an expansive drive outside off against Saleem. Once more, the ball flew into the slip cordon, but was snared by Zazai with a one-handed stunner to his right. Sai Sudharsan was dismissed for 81. The second-wicket partnership was aborted at 131, with Rahul still steady at the other end.
As the day wore on, the New Chandigarh surface began gripping and turning more. Afghanistan’s captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was their most effective spinner. He bowled slowly, often keeping his speeds under 80 kph, and used drift to troublealla batters. Still, he never induced any real chances, with edges off him flying past short leg or the keeper.
From the other end, debutant Nangeyalia Kharote induced a thin edge off Sai Sudharsan with just his fourth delivery. Rahmanullah Gurbaz dropped the consequent one-hander, diving to his right at first slip. On his return spell, Kharote – as well as part-timer Abdul Malik – both strayed into leg-stump lines too often.
With Afghanistan’s fast bowlers erring in discipline too, Gill took full toll on them, especially after the tea break. If Rahul’s knock was a product of battling against the early swing and seam, Gill’s imperious century – his 11th in the format – was aided by a worn-down attack. Still, he pounced on good-length deliveries outside off as he unfurled his drives, and cut close to his body, in trademark fashion to rack up 11 fours and one six.
Gill had Rahul for company through the beginning of his knock, during a 67-run partnership for the third wicket. However, just one delivery after bringing up his century, Rahul perished for the third time in Test cricket on exactly a 100 – the joint-second most times in Test cricket, right behind England’s Len Hutton (4). Rahul had been out playing a loose waft away from his body, off Ziaur, straight to short extra cover.
Once Rishabh Pant walked out to join Gill, the brief was clear: by their standards, India had already shut up shop for the final hour of play. An unusually restrained Pant, also playing his 50th Test for India, batted within his means until his eyes lit up against offspinner Abdul Malik in the 68th over. He took advantage of half-trackers to flat-bat three sixes in trademark Pant style. Tellingly, these would also be Pant’s only sixes of the evening.
Gill brought up his century just a few minutes before close of play, off a flick to square leg, in the 83rd over off Saleem. Afghanistan had opted not to choose the new ball, bowling through till the close of play with a battered ball. Pant manipulated a thinly spread leg-side field in these final overs to bring up his own fifty off 70 balls, on the penultimate delivery of the day’s play.
SCORES:
India 368 for 3 in 85 overs (Shubman Gill 103*, KL Rahul 100, B Sai Sudharsan 81, Rishabh Pant 50*; MohaSaleem 2-67) vs Afghanistan
(Cricinfo)
West Indies won the toss and put Sri Lanka into bat, but that was the extent of the action from thesecod ODI at Sabina Park, as persistent rain put an end to proceedings before they had even begun.
The washout means West Indies’ hopes of winning the series are wiped out, but they can still draw level in the final game on Monday. Perhaps more importantly, a win there will give the hosts a much needed rankings boost, with qualification for next year’s World Cup hinging on their final position come March next year.
The toss itself had been delayed by 30 minutes following rain earlier in the day, and it was the possibility of rain intervening later on that had influenced Shai Hope’s decision to field first.
Both teams had also made changes, with Amir Jangoo due to get a game for the injured Matthew Forde, while Eshan Malinga had been drafted in for Asitha Fernando. Shai Hope, playing his 150th ODI for West Indies, received a special jersey before rain came along.
(Cricinfo)
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