T20 World Cup 2021: India beat Scotland by 8 wickets

India kept their hopes of entering the semi-finals alive after beating Scotland by eight wickets in the Super 12 stage match of the T20 World Cup by displaying an all-rounder performance .

The entire match lasted for 24.1 overs. India first bowled out Scotland for 85 in 17.4 overs and then went on to win the match in 6.3 overs.

This made India’s net run rate plus 1.619, which is the best among the six teams in the group. India had to achieve the target in 7.1 overs to leave behind Afghanistan’s net run rate plus 1.481.

KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma scored 70 runs in the first five overs. Rahul scored 50 off 19 balls and Rohit 30 off 16 balls.

India’s 50 runs came in four overs, which is the fastest half-century of this tournament. The Indian batsmen together hit 11 fours and four sixes.

A win for New Zealand, however, would take India out of the tournament.

The Indian bowling led by Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja, performed brilliantly to bowl Scotland out for 85 in 17.4 overs. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah did not allow Scotland to get off to a good start by bowling dangerously early in the spell. Bumrah also surpassed Yuzvendra Chahal (65 wickets) to become the highest wicket-taker for India in this format.

Opener George Munsi (24 off 19 balls) signaled Bumrah to open his hand for a six at square leg and a four off Varun Chakraborty. Scottish captain Kyle Coetzer (1) was first bowled by Bumrah and then bowled on a slower ball. Mohammed Shami sent Munsi to the pavilion. Shami and Jadeja took three wickets for 15.15 runs. Jadeja dismissed Matthew Cross (2), Richie Berrington (0) and Michael Leask (21 off 12 balls).

Scotland’s score was 44 for four after ten overs. After this the Indian bowlers did not look back. Callum McLeod made 16 off 28 balls after which Shami ended the innings. Scotland’s batsmen did not perform well even against more or less weaker teams like Namibia and Afghanistan. For India, Ravichandran Ashwin took one wicket for 29 runs while Varun Chakravarthy gave 15 runs but he did not get a wicket.