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ICC Men's T20 World Cup Dubai Scotland 85 (17.4 runs): Munsey 24, (19); Shami 3-15 and Jadeja 3-15 India 89-2 (6.3 overs) KL Rahul 50 (19), Rohit 30, (16) India won with eight wickets Scorecard Tables
After a grueling thrashing of Scotland in Dubai, India remains in contention to reach semi-finals of the Men's T20 World Cup.
India defeated Scotland by a narrow margin, scoring 85 runs in 17.4 overs. Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami took 3-15.
KL Rahul scored 50 runs off 18 balls, Rohit Sharma ran 30 from 16 and India was able to reach 89-2 in just 6.3 innings.
This win is crucial to India's net run rate, which determines who advances if multiple teams finish equally on the same points. It was higher than New Zealand's and Afghanistan’s Group 2 runs.
New Zealand beat Namibia on Friday to move up two points from India and Afghanistan. They will be able to advance if they beat Afghanistan on Sunday, joining Pakistan as the leaders in the semi-finals.
If the Black Caps lose, India could still win over Namibia to reach the last four.
Amazing bowling, brutal batting
With their win over Afghanistan, India showed their true batting talent and the bowlers proved their worth.
Shami and Jasprit Bumrah were fast bowlers and Shami scored early. This created pressure that Jadeja, a slow left-armer, beautifully exploited by trapping Matthew Cross and bowling Richie Berrington for ducks to leave Scotland at 29-4 after seven innings.
After 16 overs, Scotland was at 81-6. However, they lost three wickets in the same ball.
Calum MacLeod, Alasdair Evan were bowled by savage Shami deliveries on either side of a bizarre run out by Safyaan Sharif. Mark Watt was then caught up by Bumrah who is India's top wicket-taker in T20 internationals men's with 64.
Rahul and Rohit launched a spectacular onslaught to try and hit every ball for 4 or 6 and sometimes succeeding.
Rohit was caught lbw by Brad Wheal. Rahul hit the fastest 50 in the tournament before Watt caught him off. Suryakumar Yadav won the tournament with a straight six.
India, one pre-tournament favorite, could be beaten by Pakistan and New Zealand in the opening round, but the response from India has been remarkable.
It has taken them perhaps until this match to balance their side.
It was the first time that Varun Chakravarthy, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Jadeja were all playing together in the tournament. Their control, combined with Shami's pace, Hardik Pandya's option, and Hardik Pandya's options, feel like the bowling unit India should choose from the beginning.
How is the net run-rate calculated
The average run rate is the number of runs scored by a team per over in an innings. So, for example, 160 runs off 20 overs equals 8 runs per over.
The net run-rate is calculated when the opposition's run rate is subtracted from the other team’s run-rate.
Therefore, the winning side will have a positive net rate and losers a negative.
Net run-rate in a tournament is calculated by subtracting the average runs/over scored by each team in each match and taking the average runs/over scored against them in each match.
If a team loses within their allotted time, the run rate is calculated by dividing their runs by the maximum number of overs they could have batting - in this case, 20 overs.
"If we play like that, no one can beat us" - this is what they said
Ravindra Jadeja, India spinner: "We knew that we needed to win by a large margin to increase our net run rate so we gave 100% and did everything we could.
"No one can beat us if we play like that." This is how we have to play in T20.
Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer: It was a tough day at work, and we were outclassed by every department. However, we will improve if we continue to play games like this and face it head-on."
Virat Kohli, India captain: "It's a dominant performance and something that we were striving for again - it was great to be back in the mojo.
"We spoke between 100 and 120 maximum, but we kept them to a number that allowed us leapfrog all others [on net rate]."
