India beats Zimbabwe, hopes of semi-finals remain intact, will face West Indies on March 1

New Delhi. India kept alive its hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup by defeating Zimbabwe by 72 runs. In its second Super 8 match played in Chepauk, Chennai, India set a mountain-like score in front of Zimbabwe, under which the Zimbabwean team got buried. The Indian team will now play against West Indies on March 1. The winning team of this match will get the ticket for the semi-finals. With India’s victory, South Africa qualified for the semi-finals from Group One. The match between India and West Indies on Sunday will decide the second team from the group to make it to the semi-finals.

Zimbabwe team, which came to chase the record target of 257 runs set by India, could score only 184 runs for 6 wickets. Brian Bennett scored the highest unbeaten 97 runs for Zimbabwe. Openers Brian Bennett and Tadivanashe Marumani gave a cautious start to Zimbabwe. Both of them made a partnership of 44 runs for the first wicket. Marumani was caught by Akshar Patel at the hands of Ishan Kishan on the personal score of 20 runs. After this, Varun Chakraborty got Dion Mays caught by Tilak Verma. For India, fast bowler Arshdeep Singh took the maximum of three wickets while Varun, Akshar and Shivam Dubey took one wicket each.

India scored 256 runs for 4 wickets
Earlier, with half-centuries from Hardik Pandya and Abhishek Sharma, India scored 256 runs for 4 wickets, which is the second highest score in the history of the tournament and the highest score in the current tournament. Apart from playing an unbeaten inning of 50 runs in 23 balls with four sixes and two fours, Pandya played an important role in taking the team’s score beyond 250 runs by making an unbroken partnership of 84 runs in 31 balls for the fifth wicket with Tilak Verma (44 not out, 16 balls, four sixes, three fours). Abhishek, who returned to form, earlier played an inning of 55 runs with four sixes and as many fours in 30 balls and gave a solid platform to India by making partnerships of 48 runs for the first wicket with Sanju Samson (24) and 72 runs for the second wicket with Ishan Kishan (38). Captain Suryakumar Yadav (33) also played a useful innings.

All Zimbabwe bowlers proved expensive
All Zimbabwe’s bowlers proved expensive. Blessing Muzarabani took one wicket after giving away 62 runs in four overs. Brad Evans also spent 52 runs in four overs while not getting any wicket. Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza won the toss and decided to bowl first, after which India made a good start by scoring 80 runs for one wicket in the power play. Samson opened the account with a six on the second ball of the match from Ngarwa and then also hit a six on Blessing Muzarabani (43/1). Abhishek welcomed Tinotenda Maphosa (one wicket for 40 runs) with two fours and a six, resulting in 23 runs in the third over.

Samson caught by Ryan Burl
However, Samson, while trying to play a big shot in Muzarabani’s next over, got caught by Ryan Burl at deep midwicket. Ishan also started well with two fours on Nagarava. Abhishek also hit sixes on Brad Evans and Nagarava. Ishan was lucky to score 26 runs in the 10th over when he played a reverse sweep off Brian Bennett and hoisted the ball in the air but Tashinga Musekiwa failed to catch it at the boundary. India’s century of runs was completed on this ball. Abhishek completed his first half-century of the tournament in 26 balls with one run off Raza (29/1).

Ishan also hit fours and sixes on consecutive balls of Raza.
Ishan also hit a four and a six on consecutive balls of Raza but was caught by Nagarwa at short third man on the next ball. Suryakumar was also lucky when Muzarabani failed to catch him at backward square leg off Evans’ ball. Suryakumar welcomed Maphosa, who came for the second spell, with fours and sixes on consecutive balls but Abhishek was caught by Raza at long on in the same over. Facing 30 balls, he hit four sixes and the same number of fours. Hardik Pandya, sent up the batting order, started with a six off Ryan Burl.

Tilak took India’s score beyond 200 runs with a six.
Suryakumar hit a six off Nagarava but was caught by Musekiwa after one ball. He hit two sixes and three fours in his 13-ball innings. Tilak Verma took India’s score past 200 runs in the 17th over with a six on Evans. Apart from hitting a six on Muzarabani in the 18th over, he hit two consecutive sixes on Nagarava in the next over. Pandya completed his half-century in 23 balls with two consecutive sixes on Evans.