Dubai: India signed off their T20 World Cup campaign with a nine-wicket win over Namibia here on Monday.
India reached the target of 133 in 15.2 overs with Rohit Sharma (56) and KL Rahul (54 not out) stitching 86 runs for the opening stand to set up the win in their final Super 12 match. Suryakumar Yadav also remained not out on 25.
For Namibia, Jan Frylinck took one wicket.
Earlier, India restricted Namibia to 132 for 8. Invited to bat, Namibia struggled to get going and they suffered a batting collapse after an opening stand of 33 between Stephan Baard (21) and Michael van Lingen (14). David Wiese top-scored for Namibia with a 25-ball 26.
For India, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets apiece while Jasprit Bumrah got two. This match is the last for Virat Kohli as India captain in T20 Internationals while Ravi Shashtri is donning the head coach’s hat for the last time.
Already ousted from the tournament after losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in their first two games, India looked relaxed and the the Namibians were all at sea as they are not used to playing world class slow bowling operators of this calibre.
Jadeja (4-0-16-3) and Ashwin (4-0-20-3) took six wickets between them for 36 runs to make it a lop-sided contest after Namibia, courtesy their opener Stephan Baard (21) and Michael van Lingen (14), had added 30-plus runs in the first four overs.
Once Van Lingen was dismissed by a short ball and extra pace from Jasprit Bumrah (4-0-19-2), the will to fight was not evident on the African nation’s batters when Jadeja and Ashwin jointly operated. Mohammed Shami (0/39 in 4 overs) was the only bowler who had an off-day.
Jadeja saw Craig Williams jumping down the track and stopped on his tracks and pitched on length to get enough away turn. Williams missed it and stood mid-pitch looking completely bamboozled.Baard was out to a typical Jadeja arm ball, which he tried to sweep and was caught plumb in-front.
Brief Scores:
Namibia: 132 for 8 in 20 overs (David Wiese 26; Ravindra Jadeja 3/16, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/20).
India: 136 for 1 in 15.2 overs (Rohit Sharma 56; KL Rahul 54 not out; Jan Frylinck 1/19).