India thrash Zimbabwe, South Africa secure semi-final spot

Sports Desk
Zimbabwe crashed out of the T20 World Cup after a crushing defeat to defending champions India. India defeated Zimbabwe by 72 runs in the Super Eights match on Thursday. The win ensured South Africa a place in the semi-finals with one match to spare.

India, after losing the toss and electing to bat first at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, posted a mammoth 256 for 4. In reply, Zimbabwe’s innings was bundled out for 184. With India’s emphatic win, the match against West Indies on Sunday has now become an undeclared semi-final. The winner of that match will make it to the last four.
Earlier in the day’s other match, South Africa crushed West Indies by 9 wickets in Ahmedabad.

Openers Abhishek Sharma and Hardik Pandya were the key players in India’s run-scoring spree in Chennai. The opener scored 55 runs on his way to the second-highest total in the history of the T20 World Cup. Hardik remained unbeaten on 50 runs at the end.

Zimbabwe, who made it to the Super Eights after defeating superpowers like Australia and Sri Lanka in this tournament, did not have a bad start in the run chase. However, as the required run rate continued to increase under the pressure of a mountainous target, they were knocked out of the match at one point.

For Zimbabwe, opener Brian Bennett remained unbeaten on 97, the highest individual score by a batsman in the country’s history in a T20 World Cup. But his performance only reduced the margin of defeat. For India, left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh took 3 wickets for 24 runs.

Zimbabwe’s bowlers have been in fine form in the Super Eights. After the West Indies scored 254 runs against them on Monday, they conceded 256 runs for 4 wickets today. This means that the team conceded 510 runs in just 40 overs in two matches.

Abhishek Sharma has returned to form for India. The left-hander, who has been dismissed in three of his four innings in the ongoing tournament, hit four fours and four sixes today. Tilak Verma also played a devastating innings of 44 runs off just 16 balls. His unbroken 84-run stand with Hardik gave India a huge total.

However, India could not break the world record of 260 runs set by Sri Lanka against Kenya in 2007.

Sanju Samson, who returned to the team, opened with Ishan Kishan. Although Samson was out for 24, Abhishek’s 72-run partnership with Kishan laid a solid foundation for India. Captain Suryakumar Yadav also played a cameo of 33 runs off 13 balls. Pandya completed his fifty by hitting Brad Evans for two sixes in the last two balls of the innings.