Saturday, 06 November 2021 | PTI | Dubai
India pulverised minnows Scotland by eight wickets in a Super 12 Group 2 match of the T20 World Cup to keep their semifinal hopes alive, here on Friday.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and pacer Mohammed Shami took three wickets apiece as India bundled out their opposition for just 85 in 17.4 overs.
Opener George Munsey top-scored for Scotland with his 24-run knock.
KL Rahul (50), and Rohit Sharma (30) and treated the Scotland with utter disdain to add 70 runs in five overs.
India knocked off the target in just 6.3 overs.
India’s seasoned bowlers made short work of the unheralded Scotland by bundling them out for just 85 in 17.4 overs in a Super 12 game of the ICC T20 World Cup here on Friday.
With one eye on the net run-rate, skipper Virat Kohli finally won a toss on his 33rd birthday and pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/10), made the life of Scottish batters miserable during his first spell.
Bumrah surpassed Yuzvendra Chahal (65 scalps) to now become India’s highest wicket-taker in shortest version.
Plucky left-handed opener George Munsey (24 off 19 balls) clipped Bumrah over square leg for a six and reverse swept Varun Chakravarthy for a boundary to signal positive intent but the gulf in class was always obvious.
Skipper Kyle Coetzer (1) was pegged on the backfoot by a Bumrah yorker first up and then he bowled a slower one which beat the Scotsman all ends up.
A lethal Mohammed Shami (3/15) then sent back the dangerous looking Munsey, who failed to clear mid-on. That was the end of Scotland batting’s brief bright spot.
The dsciplined Ravindra Jadeja (3/15), with his ‘darts-like’ accuracy, removed Matthew Cross (2), Richie Berrington (0) and Michael Leask (21 off 12 balls) in quick succession to blow away the middle-order.
Jadeja varied the pace of his deliveries but occasionally bowled the ones that skid through the surface hurrying the batters.
Once Scotland were 44 for 4 after 10 overs, there was no looking back for the Indian bowlers.
It was a game where even percentage bowling was enough to rattle the Scotland batters, who didn’t find too many options to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Scotland’s previous poor show with willow against weaker teams like Namibia and Afghanistan was an indicator that they wouldn’t do any better against India.
Once half the side was out with less than 60 on the board, the lower order was caught between survival and attack.
Calum MacLeod (16 off 28 balls) laboured along before being cleaned up by Shami as Indians hardly had to bowl too many effort balls to dismantle the opposition.
Save one where No. 10 Alasdair Evans was yorked by a 90 mph thunderbolt by Shami.
It was one such happy evening in the office where skipper Kohli wasn’t bothered whether there was a sixth bowler available or not.
Ravichandran Ashwin (1/29) and Varun Chakravarthy (0/15) were also accurate for the better part of their spells.
