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T20 World Cup: India thrash Scotland to retain glimmer of hope
Kohli's boys cruise to 8-wicket win with 81 balls to spare to boost NRR in race to make T20 WC semis
Bring out the calculators, get frantic about NRR and feel a spark of hope again…no, wait...Afghanistan still need to pull off a miracle and beat New Zealand if India have to make it out of the group and into the semis. But India are doing everything in their power to hold their side of the equation in play, thrashing Scotland to race to a win in just 6.3 overs—with eight wickets to spare—in one of the most mismatched games of this World Cup.
The stands at the Dubai international stadium weren’t packed to capacity. Some Indian spectators may have lost faith after sitting through two crushing defeats on the same ground. They missed out on some clinical, brutal hitting.
As a special treat on his birthday, Virat Kohli finally won the toss and got to choose the chase.
Scotland showed some early intent in the form of opener George Munsey who whipped a quick and full Jasprit Bumrah missile off his legs for a six in the first over, then brought out the reverse sweep against Varun Chakravarthy for a four. He then followed it up with three boundaries off a Ravichandran Ashwin over. But that was more or less the extent of Scotland’s belligerence with the bat.
India’s reliance on Jasprit Bumrah to provide powerplay breakthroughs has steadily increased as the tournament has progressed. He came in first change in the opening match against Pakistan, bowled the second over against New Zealand and Afghanistan and came in to bowl the first over against Scotland. Desperate times calling for early aggression. Bumrah has been firing in the yorkers in these early overs just as he does at the death, but it’s been the change-ups that have done the trick. That’s how he delivered the first strike against Scotland too, an off-cutter to send captain Kyle Coetzer packing for 1 in the 3rd over.
Mohammed Shami accounted for the danger-man, Munsey, with a slower off-cutter of his own.
India was playing three spinners in their eleven for the first time this World Cup, and now they began to choke the air out of Scotland.
Ravindra Jadeja has been largely lacklustre in the competition so far, but he produced a classical left-arm spinners’ wicket, getting one to leave Richie Berrington and crash into the middle stump. It was a dismissal that he would be proud of in a Test match. Then he got Cross out with one that straightened for a two-wicket over and Scotland reeled at 29/4 in seven overs. Another Jadeja slider and an Ashwin carrom ball later, Scotland had been pushed back to 70/6.
If this wasn’t dramatic enough, they produced a team hat-trick in the first three balls of the 17th over. First, a Shami yorker smashed into Callum Mcleod’s stumps. Next ball, Safyaan Sharif was run out. Third ball, another yorker, another bowled.
Bumrah picked the final wicket to become India’s leading T20I wicket-taker with 64 scalps, leaving Scotland shell shocked, all out for 85.
The run-rate target sheets were out at the break. On Twitter, Sachin Tendulkar wanted fans to predict how many balls it would take for India to win. BCCI’s twitter handle was played along: “Inside 8.5 overs to go past New Zealand's NRR, and inside 7.1 overs to go past Afghanistan's NRR.”
In the end, India went past table-topper Pakistan’s NRR too.
Scotland began with their best match-up bet against Indian openers, Matt Watt’s left arm spin. Rohit Sharma found the boundary just once, while both Sharma and KL Rahul dealt in singles.
They cut loose in the next over. There was no way India was going to bat in anything other than top gear. Scotland’s seamers tried different lengths—short, pitched up and completely full. It all sailed over the inner ring.
Five boundaries and a six later, Sharma 30 (16) had to leave undone by a rapid straight yorker from Brad Wheel. But Rahul was on song, back in piping hot form like in the IPL last month. He finally holed out in the last ball of the powerplay for a 18-ball 50. India won in 39 balls. It’s over to Afghanistan vs New Zealand on Sunday.
