India bundled out Scotland for just 85 and blasted their way to a win inside six and a half overs to clinch an easy eight-wicket win and earn themselves a massive NRR boost in an important encounter of the T20 World Cup 2021 on Friday.
Mighty Indians flexed their muscles out of intent and desperation as a resounding victory in Dubai kept their slender semi-final hopes alive by taking their net run rate past Afghanistan and New Zealand.
Walking a thin rope since their heavy defeats to Pakistan and NZ, India backed their big win over Afghanistan with another comprehensive scalp of the Scottish team.
On his 33rd birthday, India skipper Virat Kohli won a toss and opted to bowl first. The idea would’ve been to dismiss the opposition as early as possible and chase those runs down quickly. As it happened, Kohli’s wish was fulfilled in fine fashion by the Indian bowling attack.
Scotland batters’ rigid approach with the sweeps and reverse sweeps came back to haunt them once again. Their lack of footwork was exploited to great effect by Indian spinners, especially Ravindra Jadeja, who got multiple Scottish batters out caught at the crease and ended with figures of 3/15.
Varun Chakravarthy (0/15) hardly gave away a thing, and after an iffy start, Ravichandran Ashwin also returned well to the end with respectable figures (1/29).
Among pacers, lead quick Jasprit Bumrah (2/10) was on fire from the very start. Bumrah executed numerous yorkers to set up the batters and then came up with the slow dipping off-cutters to bag two wickets.
Talking of yorkers, Mohammed Shami nailed them to perfection against the Scottish tailenders and castled their stumps to finish with 3/15 off his four overs. Only two Scottish batters – George Munsey (24) and Michael Leask (21) – made it past the 20-run mark.
Scotland had batted unconvincingly in trying circumstances throughout the tournament, but here the gaps in their batting were exposed the most brutally by a robust bowling line-up, offering them no respite.
That no-respite Indian attitude was on display the most during the second half. To get above Afghanistan in the NRR, they needed to chase the paltry score down in 7.1 overs, while chasing it down in 8.5 overs would’ve taken India above New Zealand.
By the end, India went above Afghanistan and took a significant lead above them on that count. The fashion in which KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma batted at the top was tremendous to see. It was – even budgeting for an inexperienced opposition attack – Indian batsmanship at its very best.
The two players went at a strike-rate of 263.16 and 187.50, respectively, but did so without taking any risks. It was classy batting in a blistering chase. Rahul struck a 19-ball 50, including six fours and three sixes, while Rohit made 30 off 16 with five fours and one six before they both were dismissed near the finish line.
Then to put the cherry on cake, Suryakumar Yadav (6*) hit a straight six to end the game along with skipper Kohli (2*) with more than 13 overs to spare.
India, obviously at pain over defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand, unleashed their wrath on Scotland and went up to third in the points table with two wins from four games and an NRR of +1.619.
They now require another heavy win over Namibia on Monday (November 8). But before that, hope against hope, that Afghanistan will defeat New Zealand.
Brief scores
Scotland 85/10 in 17.4 overs (Munsey 24; Jadeja 3/15, Shami 3/15) lost to India 89/2 in 6.3 overs (KL Rahul 50, Sharma 30; Watt 1/20) by eight wickets
