India brush aside Zimbabwe to close out the semi-finals against England.
Suryakumar Yadav hit a blazing unbeaten 61 as India set up a Twenty20 World Cup semi-final against England and a potential final against Pakistan by crushing Zimbabwe by 71 runs at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground.
India were cruising at 87-1 chasing 187 but the loss of three quick wickets slowed them down before Yadav got proceedings going. five overs.
India, billed as the top T20 team in the world and winners of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, were through to the semi-finals before the first ball was bowled after the Netherlands had upset South Africa earlier in the day.
Victory over Zimbabwe confirmed their position at the top of Group 2 to play a last-four clash against Jos Buttler’s England, who finished second in Group 1. The two teams meet at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
Group 1 winners New Zealand play Group 2 runners-up Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
At this point I am salivating at the prospect of an India-Pakistan final
— pradip (@sahaprd) November 6, 2022
India won the toss and batted in the final group match of the Super 12 stage, with a disciplined Zimbabwe – whose semi-finals were already over – opening with nine balls.
But the runs started to flow, with Rohit Sharma slamming a boundary off Tendai Chatara and then KL Rahul hitting a mammoth six off Richard Ngarava.
Sharma was just getting into the groove when he misjudged a pull shot going for the ropes again and was out for 15, caught in the deep by Wellington Masakadza.
This brought Virat Kohli to the line and he and Rahul made 79-1 after 10 overs.
Kohli became the highest run-scorer in T20 World Cup history last week and hit three half-centuries during the tournament.
But there would be no explosive fourth, with the master batsman holding out to Ryan Burl on 26, undone by the spin of Sean Williams.
Zimbabwe’s chase got off to a horrendous start with Wesley Madhevere spinning out first ball, sending Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the decks, where Kohli hung on.
It went from bad to worse when Regis Chakabva also fell scoreless, bowled by Arshdeep Singh to leave them at 2-2.
Williams and skipper Craig Ervine scored 26 for the third wicket before both departed in the space of six balls – Williams caught Mohammed Shami for 11 and Ervine caught and bowled Hardik Pandya for 13.
Sikander Raza and Ryan Burl came to the rescue, with spinner Axar Patel coming in for particular punishment.
They scored 60 runs before Burl was bowled by Ashwin for a 22-ball 35. The wickets continued to tumble with Raza the penultimate batsman, out for 34.
