T20 World Cup: KL & Surya Smash Fifties, Ashwin Picks 3 as India Trump Zimbabwe

India topped Group 2 of the Super 12 stage of the 2022 T20 World Cup.

(Photo: PTI)

• India defeat Zimbabwe by 71 runs in their final Super 12 match to finish the Super 12 stage on top of Group 2.

• India 186/5 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 61 not out, K.L Rahul 51; Sean Williams 2-9, Sikandar Raza 1-18)

• Zimbabwe (Ryan Burl 35, Sikandar Raza 34; Ravichandran Ashwin 3-22, Mohammed Shami 2-14) by 71 runs

• India will next play England in the semi-final on Thursday.

India has trumped Zimbabwe by a massive 71 runs in the final Super 12 match of the 2022 T20 World Cup to cruise into the semi-finals, where the team will face England on Thursday.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first with KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav's half centuries helping the team post 186/5.

In reply, Ryan Burl emerged Zimbabwe's highest-scorer with 35 as the team got bowled out for 115. R Aswin picked three wickets while Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya claimed two each.

Earlier, after electing to bat first, Rohit Sharma got India's first boundary by presenting the full face of bat for a gorgeous straight drive off Tendai Chatara in the second over. In the next over, KL Rahul swivelled Richard Ngarava for a six over deep square leg.

After Rohit placed a cut wide of backward point off Blessing Muzarabani in the fourth over, the tall pacer bowled a short ball to the Indian skipper, who pulled it straight to the fielder at deep square leg, departing for 15.

Kohli got off the mark off the very first delivery by clipping Muzarabani through fine leg for four and whipped Wellington Masakadza wide of mid-on later apart from finding the singles very quickly.

But Rahul, who played out a maiden opening over, was timing the deliveries well. When Muzarabani offered width, he stood tall to cut over backward point for four. When Ryan Burl flighted outside the off-stump, he came forward to smash a six down the ground.

On the very next ball, Rahul swiped against the turn from Burl just past deep mid-wicket for four. In the next over, on a slower short ball from Chatara, Rahul was quick to be on the backfoot and pull amazingly past mid-wicket for four.

But Zimbabwe made a comeback by picking a wicket each in overs 12, 13 and 14 while conceding 18 runs overall. Kohli holed out to long-off off Sean Williams. Rahul, after launching Sikandar Raza down the ground for a six to complete his fifty in 34 balls, holed out to long-off on the very next ball.

Rishabh Pant played a flat slog-sweep off Williams, but Burl ran full tilt to his left from long on and flung himself to take a superb diving catch. But Suryakumar got India moving by smacking Muzarabani for a brace of fours - scoop over fine leg was followed by lofting over mid-off.

Two balls later, Hardik Pandya flicked superbly through backward square leg for four as India ended 16th over with 18 runs. In the next over, Suryakumar stepped up the attack by placing a Ngarava full toss over third man for four and dispatched one over backward square leg for six to take 12 runs off the 17th over.

Suryakumar continued to toy with the field and bowlers' minds, scooping and lofting Chatara for four and six respectively in the 18th over. Against Muzarabani in the 19th over, he beautifully timed a straight drive which oozed elegance of the highest quality.

Though Pandya fell in the final over, Suryakumar continued to play jaw-dropping shots. He moved full stretch with his front leg way across the off-stump to whip off his wrists over backward square leg for six.

After reaching his fifty in 23 balls, he repeated the swipe wide of off-stump again to pick another four and ended the innings by scooping over fine leg for six to give a competitive total to India, enthralling a huge crowd.

In defence of 186, India had success on the very first ball as Wesley Madhevere tried to reach out for a drive on a swinging-away delivery from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, but was caught by a diving short cover.

In the next over, Arshdeep Singh lured Regis Chakabva for a drive, but the late swing in off a fuller length meant the ball went through the gate to hit the stumps. With Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep getting the new ball to swing, it made life difficult for Zimbabwe till captain Craig Ervine took a four each of them.

After hooking Mohammed Shami for a six over fine-leg, Williams swung away from the body and was caught at the third man on the last ball of Power-play. Post-Powerplay, Ervine chipped in the air off Hardik Pandya and was caught by the bowler off his right hand. In the next over, Shami struck again by trapping Tony Munyonga plumb lbw.

Ryan Burl was impressive with his sweep and reverse-sweeps, one of which got him a six off Ravichandran Ashwin apart from smashing anything with width for boundaries off the off-spinner, Pandya and Axar Patel.

But Ashwin struck to break the 60-run partnership, forcing Burl to go for an on-drive on a fuller ball and rattled the stumps. He then took out Wellington Masakadza and Richard Ngarava in quick succession to bag a three-fer. Raza holed out on a pull in the deep off Pandya while Tendai Chatara gave Axar Patel a simple catch off his bowling to give India a huge win.

(With inputs from IANS)