T20 World Cup: Surya-powered India win group

Melbourne, November 6

Suryakumar Yadav reaffirmed his status as a T20 magician with another magnificent effort as India crushed Zimbabwe by 71 runs to set up a T20 World Cup semifinals date with the mighty England.

Yadav smashed an unbeaten 61 off 25 balls in India’s imposing 186/5 and Zimbabwe’s batting depth was never enough to surpass that score as they were shot out for 115 in 17.2 overs. Ravichandran Ashwin took 3/22 while Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya picked up two wickets each.

India finished on top of Group 2 and will play their fourth T20 World Cup semifinal (after 2007, 2014, 2016) against Jos Buttler’s England in Adelaide on November 10.

Surya shines

If Kohli lit up the Melbourne Cricket Ground with a knock for the ages on October 23 against Pakistan, Yadav made it a rock-concert type atmosphere at the ground with his scintillating strokeplay.

Indian cricket has seen a lot of batsmen with supple wrists, but Yadav is a rare breed because he also possesses brute power. He reaffirmed his status as the world’s top T20 batter, hitting six fours and four sixes. Seventy-nine runs were scored in the last five overs of India’s innings, and 56 of them were scored by Yadav off only 19 balls.

The casual ramp shot to guide left-armer Richard Ngarava’s full-toss behind third man, the slog-sweep behind square, the imperious inside-out loft over extra cover off Tendai Chatara — Yadav oozed class with each shot he played. In the final over from Ngarava, he fetched the deliveries from outside the off-stump to deposit them behind deep fine-leg. If that was not enough, he finished with a six over fine-leg.

Zimbabwe’s slow bowlers — left-arm spinners Wellington Masakadza (0/12 in 2 overs), Sikandar Raza (1/18 in 3 overs) and Sean Williams (2/9 in 2 overs) — did a terrific job between the seventh and 15th over, literally bottling up the peerless Virat Kohli (26 off 25 balls).

But Yadav and Hardik Pandya (18 off 18 balls) added 65 runs in only 5.5 overs to negate the good work done by the slow bowlers.

Rohit fails

The pull shot, which over the years has brought countless runs to captain Rohit Sharma, contributed to his downfall for 15 as he was slightly late to launch into a short ball from Muzarabani.

Kohli hit a four off the first ball he faced, but he got bogged down against the Zimbabwean spinners. Williams finally got him when the batter came too close to the pitch of the delivery for a lofted drive and was caught at long-off.

Earlier, having played a maiden over first up off Ngarava, KL Rahul (51 off 35) finally teed off with a six behind square off the same bowler and after that looked a different player, completing his second half-century of the competition. — Agencies

Pakistan grab lifeline thrown by Dutch

Adelaide: Pakistan booked their place in the last-4 with a win over Bangladesh, but their progress was made possible courtesy a shock defeat of South Africa by the Netherlands earlier in the day. Pakistan had made an inauspicious start to their Super 12 campaign, losing their tournament-opener to India, followed by another last-ball loss to Zimbabwe. By the time Pakistan registered their second victory against South Africa, their fate had slipped out of their own hands. Their slim chances of making the semis depended on the Dutch pulling off a giant-killing act against South Africa.

Brief scores: Netherlands 158/4 (Ackermann 41*; Maharaj 2/27) vs South Africa 145/8 (Rossouw 25; Glover 3/9, Klaassen 2-20); Bangladesh 127/8 (Shanto 54; Afridi 4/22) vs Pakistan 128/5 (Rizwan 32, Haris 31). reuters