India have topped their group at the T20 World Cup with a crushing 93-run victory over Namibia in New Delhi, despite not being anywhere near their best. Chasing a target of 210, Namibia put up a fight before going from 86/2 to 116 all out.
Led by Ishan Kishan, who blazed 61 off 24 deliveries, India put 100 on the board in just 6.5 overs, the fastest for any team in a World Cup match. But where visions of 250 plus had been raised, the arrival of spin turned the innings on its head.
Namibia were left peeved at not getting a chance to train under lights in Delhi, but made up for it with a tigerish performance in the field after the initial onslaught from Kishan. Gerhard Erasmus got through his first three overs for just 13 runs, accounting for Kishan first ball and then Tilak Varma, as the scoring rate dropped from almost 15 to 10.33.
But led by Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube, who put on 81, India recovered to post 209/9 in their 20 overs, which set Namibia an asking rate of 10.45 per over. Pandya smashed four sixes and four fours in his 52 off 28 balls, and later took two wickets to be named Player of the Match.
Sanju Samson, playing his first World Cup match on account of Abhishek Sharma’s absence, swatted three sixes in a row but fell for 22 from eight balls. A 28-run over bowled by JJ Smit saw Kishan hit four successive sixes en route to a 20-ball 50. That was all Namibia’s captain needed before introducing himself, and first ball he had Kishan mistiming a pull out to Ben Shikongo at deep midwicket.
Firing in under-cutters on a pitch starting to grip, Erasmus also varied his release points – at one stage being called for a dead ball by the umpire Rod Tucker – to flummox the Indian batting. High-arm or round-arm, Erasmus’ offspin slowed the scoring and brought about panicky shots.
Bernard Scholtz, the left-arm spinner, entered the picture and had Suryakumar Yadav stumped by a mile. Tilak has had issues with spin and here he was all at sea, to the extent that he eventually danced out to Erasmus, bowling from behind the umpire, and found the fielder at long-off.
An 18-ball period without a boundary ended when Pandya whipped six over long-on, and Dube’s arrival also helped push some off the pressure back on Namibia. Dube’s eighth ball traveled into the stands behind long-on, and the 24-run over from Scholz included a six and four by Pandya too.
Chasing a target of 210, Namibia started well to reach 67/1 after seven overs. However, the introduction of Varun Chakravarthy changed the tone of the innings, with the No 1 ranked bowler striking first ball. Varun only bowled two overs, but his 3/7 crippled Namibia’s chase.
Axar Patel took two wickets, Jasprit Bumrah returned to the 11 with 1/20 from his four overs, and Pandya grabbed 2/21 from four as India won with just under two overs to spare.
