India crush Scotland to stay in hunt for semi-final spot

Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami picked three wickets apiece as India bowled Scotland out 85 for in their Super 12 clash of the Men’s T20 World Cup in Dubai on Friday. India had put Scotland in to bat after Virat Kohli won the toss for the first time in this competition.

George Munsey began well for Scotland, flicking a straight and full ball from Jasprit Bumrah over deep backward square leg for half a dozen. But Bumrah also drew first blood soon when he disturbed Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer’s (one) woodwork.

Munsey showed how strong he is against spin by welcoming Ravichandran Ashwin to the bowling crease with three fours in an over – one beautifully creamed through covers while the other two via reverse sweeps. But Shami dismissed him for 24 off 19, when the southpaw hit one straight to mid-on.

As soon as the powerplay ended, Jadeja was brought in and he struck by dismissing Richie Berrington (zero) and Matthew Cross (two) in the same over. From four for 29, Michael Leask and Calum MacLeod kept the bowlers at bay for 29 more runs before an accurate Jadeja trapped the former plumb for 21 off 12.

From there, there was nothing more to write about for Scotland, with India picking three wickets in three balls, courtesy Shami’s double strike that sandwiched a run out. Bumrah picked the final wicket to go past Yuzvendra Chahal as the leading wicket-taker in T20Is for India.

India, within the first four overs, attacked 15 balls and scored 45 runs from them. Zero wickets. There. That’s how much of a mismatch this was. Rahul and Rohit Sharma hit eight fours and two sixes in the first 24 balls of the chase and killed the game off in a ridiculous hurry.

Chief scores

Scotland: 85 in 17.4 overs (Munsey 24, Shami 3/15, Jadeja 3/15)
India: 89/2 in 6.3 overs (KL Rahul 50, Rohit 30) (Agencies)