CHENNAI: India opener Abhishek Sharma's first half century of the tournament and the late show from Hardik Pandya (50 n.o) and Tilak Varma (44 n.o) helped India breeze past Zimbabwe by 72 runs in the Super 8s of the T20 World Cup at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday evening.
Chasing 257, Zimbabwe openers Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani began in earnest by scoring 44 in the power play without any damage. It seemed like they wanted to take the patient route and not lose wickets. It was off-spinner Axar Patel who gave India the breakthrough. He forced Marumani to play a false stroke straight to Ishan Kishan at cover point.
Brian Bennett will be one of the few silver linings for the Chevron. While he may have missed out on a historic ton, his unbeaten 97 against a team like a India is a big source of encouragement. Otherwise, the Zimbabwean batters could not build on their own and possibly help Bennett from the other end.
He used his feet and chose the right ball to attack and scored runs freely against Varun Chakravarthy and Axar. The opener punished an erratic Shivam Dube who conceded 26 runs in the first over he bowled. Bennett struck Dube for two sixes and two boundaries to race to his 70's. Dube bowled three wides and a no ball and looked out of sorts.
At the toss, Zimbabwe captain Raza had said that pitch was 'moist' at the toss and that his fast bowlers will try to get some assistance from the surface. However, they saw the opening salvo of Abhishek and Sanju Samson. Sanju carted the second ball of India's innings for a huge six as the ball sailed over fast bowler Richard Ngarava head for a huge six that landed in front of he sight screen.
He followed it with a six in the very next over off Blessing, this time the ball sailing over the long on boundary. With approach Sanju made it clear that he was waiting for the right ball to attack and go for the maximum.
Abhishek who hardly got strike for the first two overs was waiting for his time to have a go at the visitors.
Tinotenda Maposa who was brought in as first change was costly, as he conceded wides. Abhishek did not lose his concentration and chose the right ball to attack and struck Maposa for two boundaries and a huge six over long on. These boundaries helped Abhishek settle into the game. When it looked like the new right-left combination would make maximum use of the power play field restrictions, Sanju holed out lanky pacer Blessing Muzarabani to Ryan Burl at deep mid wicket. Sanju was done in by change of pace as the pull off slower short ball did not have enough carry to clear the ropes. Sanju once again failed to grab the opportunity and play an impactful innings. The crowd was disappointed that the new CSK recruit failed to set the Chepauk ablaze.
Ishan Kishan joined Abhishek and the duo complimented each other. Kishan capatalised on the generosity of the Zimbabwe fielders to make a quickfire 38. Then, captain Suryakumar Yadav began in earnest and showed intent, but his stay was cut short by Ngarava's change of pace. When Suryakumar was out, India had already put 172 on the board. After that Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma made mince meat of the stingless Zimbabwe attack to raise 84 runs in 31 balls for the unfinished fifth wicket.
Brief scores: India 256/4 in 20 ovs (Abhishek 55, Hardik 50 n.o; Sikandar Raza 1/29) bt Zimbabwe 184/6 in 20 ovs (B Bennett 97 n.o; Arshdeep 3/24) by 72 runs.