Melbourne: Fifties from Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul and a fine bowling performance powered India to a massive 71-run win over Zimbabwe in their final Super 12 match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the MCG in Melbourne on Sunday.
Suryakumar Yadav played yet another breathtaking knock of 61* from 25 deliveries to guide India to a massive total of 186/5.
He walked in to bat with India at 87/2 in the 12th over of the innings and went on the charge straight away. Yadav smashed six fours and four sixes during his majestic knock even though the other middle-order batters found it tough to get going.
Earlier, KL Rahul also played an excellent knock of 51 from 35 deliveries to set the tone for India.
Zimbabwe needed a good start to get anywhere near to the steep target of 187. Instead, they suffered an early collapse, losing half of their side for just 36 runs. All the Indian pacers were on song, as they used the conditions to perfection to extract swing and movement. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami brought their experience into play whereas youngster Arshdeep Singh was brilliant once again.
It looked like Zimbabwe would get bowled out for a total below 100 when they lost half of their side for just 36 runs. But Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl put on an excellent stand of 60 runs to lead Zimbabwe’s recovery.
Burl was going well but his innings was cut short on 35 from 22 deliveries when Ravichandran Ashwin cleaned him up. Raza also departed three overs later for a well-made 34 from 24 deliveries. Zimbabwe didn’t have much batting power left after their departure and were finally bowled out for 115, with 16 balls remaining in the innings.
India already qualified for the semi-finals following South Africa’s loss to Netherlands earlier in the day. But their win against Zimbabwe helped them in finishing at the top of Group 2 and set up a semi-final clash against England in Adelaide on November 10.
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