India put forth an impressive all-round effort as they thumped Scotland by eight wickets in a Super 12 game on Friday, ensuring they live to fight another day in the ICC T20 World Cup.
The entire match lasted a mere 24.1 overs as India first bowled out Scotland for 85 in 17.4 overs and then batted for another 6.3 overs to knock off the runs, taking their net run-rate to +1.619, which is now best among all six teams, even better than top placed Pakistan (+1.065).
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To surpass Afghanistan’s net run-rate of +1.481, India needed to score the required runs in 7.1 overs and KL Rahul (50 off 19 balls) and Rohit Sharma (30 off 16 balls) added 70 in five overs to make sure India achieved the goal.
The fastest team 50 of this edition came inside four overs and as Rohit and Rahul hit a total of 11 fours and four sixes between them.
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Earlier, India’s bowlers made short work of the Scotland batting line-up with both Mohammed Shami (three overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (four overs) returning with identical career-best T20 figures of 3/15.
Jasprit Bumrah (2/10) surpassed Yuzvendra Chahal (63 wickets) to become India’s highest wicket-taker in T20I cricket.
Ashwin Ravichandran (1/29) and Varun Chakravarthy (0/15) were also accurate for the better part of their spells.
Here are reactions to India’s comprehensive victory against Scotland:
(With inputs from PTI)