India sign off with nine-wicket win over Namibia

DUBAI: Fine performances with bat and ball saw India sign off from the ICC Men's T20 World Cup with a nine-wicket win over Namibia in their final Super 12 match at the Dubai International Stadium here on Monday. It meant that Virat Kohli finished his T20I captaincy career on a high. It also indicated that head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar end their last matches in coaching staff on a winning note.

After Ravindra Jadeja (3/16), Ravichandran Ashwin (3/20) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/19) excelled in restricting Namibia to 132/8, clinical half-centuries from Rohit Sharma (56 off 37 balls) and KL Rahul (54 not out off 36 balls) propelled India as they chased down the total, making 136/1 with 28 balls remaining.

India blasted 54 runs in the Power-play, 39 of those coming from Sharma's bat. He had luck on his side, with his one-handed pull put down by Michale van Lingen at fine-leg and rolled to the boundary rope for four in the opening over. That drop proved to be costly as Sharma took a four and six off David Wiese followed by another four off Rubel Trumpelmann. Rahul joined the party with a short-arm jab-pull off Wiese over deep mid-wicket in the fourth over.

Post Power-play, Sharma continued his strong show, taking two boundaries before reaching his second half-century of the tournament in the eighth over. Jan Frylinck broke the opening partnership at 86 as Sharma skied a cross-bat slog to keeper Zane Green. After Sharma's dismissal, Rahul was at his elegant best with wristy flick and clean loft boundaries.

Suryakumar Yadav, promoted to number three, creamed a flurry of boundaries, with a loft over extra cover and scoop over fine leg standing out as India inched closer to the target. Rahul reached his third half-century of the tournament with a single to long-on before finishing off the chase with a four through long-off.

Brief scores: Namibia 132/8 in 20 overs (David Wiese 26, Stephan Baard 21, Ravindra Jadeja 3-16, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-20) lost to India 136/1 in 15.2 overs (Rohit Sharma 56, KL Rahul 54 not out, Jan Frylinck 1/19) by nine wickets. IANS

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