By Staff Reporter
The defending champions posted a mammoth 257-run target for the spirited African side, who refused to bow out of the tournament without putting up a fight at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.
Prolific Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett scored 97 not out, but was unable to see his side over the line as they continued their impressive World Cup campaign by scoring 184-6 against the pre-tournament favourites in front of a vociferous home crowd.
Pace bowler Arshdeep Singh was the standout bowler for India in the high-scoring match as he picked up 3-24 in his four overs.
Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya were the most economical performers with the ball in the high-scoring match at one of the smaller World Cup venues. Both were wicketless but gave away only 21 runs in their three overs, while Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Shivam Dube picked up a wicket each.
Earlier, Sanju Samson made the most of his comeback into the playing 11 by hitting a six off the second ball of India’s innings and going on to score 24 runs off 15 balls.
His attacking display gave out-of-form opener Abhishek Sharma the time to settle and then launch his own attack from the other end. The world’s top-ranked T20 batter went on to top score with 55 off 30 balls in an innings that comprised four fours and four sixes.
He later thanked his teammates and support staff for keeping the faith in him despite his poor performance in the previous matches.
“They told me: you have done this before, as well,” Abhishek said after his innings.
The rest of India’s top and middle order contributed to the big total, but it was Pandya’s 23-ball-50 at the end of the innings that propelled the home side towards the 250-plus-run mark.
Pandya and his batting partner Tilak Varma shared an 84-run partnership that included eight mammoth sixes and five fours as the Indian pair thrashed Zimbabwe’s bowlers.
India’s position in the Group 1 points table did not change after the match, but the cohosts now find themselves in a knockout game against the West Indies on Sunday evening in Kolkata.
South Africa have progressed to the semifinals after their nine-wicket win over West Indies in the day game in Mumbai. They will face Zimbabwe in their final Group 1 match in the earlier fixture in New Delhi on Sunday.
