India posted a record score against Zimbabwe.
India set up a winner-take-all clash with West Indies at the T20 World Cup as they kept their hopes of a semi-final place alive with an emphatic 74-run Super 8s win over Zimbabwe.
The tournament favourites’ heavy defeat to South Africa left them in a situation where a stunning defeat to Zimbabwe would have ended their chances of lifting the trophy.
But there was never a danger of that scenario coming to pass, as a half-century from Abhishek Sharma (55) and blistering innings from Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma powered India to a remarkable total of 256-4, with Sanju Samson (24) the only one of the six players who batted not to post a score of at least 30.
Hardik struck an unbeaten 50 off 23 balls, while Varma hit four sixes in a 16-ball 44 as India posted the second-highest score at a T20 World Cup, the West Indies having posted the third-highest score (254-6) three days earlier against the same opposition.
That left the underdogs once again facing a record chase for a T20 World Cup. Once again, they fell comfortably short.
Opening batter Brian Bennett was a bright spot for Zimbabwe, as he posted an unbeaten 97, but they were always behind a run rate of just under 13.
Arshdeep Singh did the damage with the ball, taking 3-24, including the valuable scalp of Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza (31) as he became the highest India wicket-taker in the history of the men’s T20 World Cup.
He surpassed the great Jasprit Bumrah (33), his third wicket to remove Tony Munyonga (11) a yorker of which Bumrah would have been proud.
India captain demands smarter bowling
Despite the huge nature of their victory, India captain Suryakumar Yadav saw clear areas in which his side need to improve if they are to reach the last four.
Though Zimbabwe never looked like troubling the massive total, the hosts still had to work hard for breakthroughs against their batting line-up.
It was not until the 17th over, when Arshdeep dismissed Raza to reduce Zimbabwe to 144-3, that their innings truly went sideways, leaving Bennett’s ultimately futile search for a century as the only source of intrigue in the closing overs.
“We wanted to leave everything behind, the last game, the group stage,” Suryakumar said.
“There was contributions from all batters and that was heartening to see. We could have been more clinical with the ball, but a win is a win.
“We need to tighten our screws ahead of the West Indies game. We don’t want to take any credit away from Zimbabwe batters. The way they batted was very smart. From the bowling point of view, we could have been smarter.”
South Africa through to semis, hosts face ‘de-facto quarter-final’
The result means South Africa, with two wins from their two Super 8 matches, will feature in the last four.
India’s game with the Windies in Kolkata is now, in essence, a quarter-final.
There is little recent history to go on when assessing that contest, as India and the Windies have not met in T20I cricket since a five-match series in August 2023.
The Windies won that series 3-2, but they last won a T20I match in India in December 2019. India last hosted the Windies for a T20I series in 2021-22 and won 3-0, with all three matches played at Eden Gardens, the venue for Sunday’s decisive clash.
However, Eden Gardens does hold a special place in West Indian hearts. It was the stage that Carlos Brathwaite famously lit up as his remarkable final over delivered glory in the 2016 T20 World Cup final against England. They will hope such heroics are not required to stun the hosts.
