DUBAI: India couldn’t afford to lose at the T20 World Cup and didn’t on Friday when they thrashed Scotland by eight wickets.

In doing so, the 2007 champions kept alive their slim chance of reaching the semi-finals next week.

Virat Kohli elected to field after winning his first toss of the tournament and Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami took three wickets each to help bundle out Scotland for 85 in 17.4 overs at the Dubai International Stadium.

KL Rahul’s 50 off 19 balls helped India chased down the paltry target for their second win in four matches as birthday boy skipper Kohli claimed: “We’ve got our mojo back.”

Rahul and Rohit Sharma, who hit 30, took the Scotland bowling apart as India raced to their target in 6.3 overs to radically improve their run-rate above New Zealand and Afghanistan.

They still need to win their last game against Namibia on Monday and depend on the result of Sunday’s New Zealand-Afghanistan match to have any chance of making the final four. Unbeaten Pakistan have already qualified from the group with eight points.

Rahul smashed six fours and three sixes in his batting blitz as he raised the fifty in 18 balls before getting out to Mark Watt.

Sharma fell lbw to Brad Wheal who ended the 70-run opening stand.

Suryakumar Yadav hit the winning six with Kohli, on his 33rd birthday, relishing the huge win at the other end.

“A dominating performance. It was something we were striving for again,” said Kohli after a second successive win followed defeats to old rivals Pakistan and New Zealand.

“We spoke about [conceding to Scotland] 100, 120 max but we restricted them to a total that allowed us to leapfrog everyone else.

“I don’t want to say too much about today because we know how we can play. These little things in T20 cricket [toss, conditions] matter and we’re glad to be back in our mojo.”

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah bowled Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer afer the batsman’s seven-ball struggle at the crease. It was a maiden wicket for Bumrah.

George Munsey counter-attacked as he smashed Ravichandran Ashwin for three successive boundaries but Shami cut short the opener’s stay on 24.

Jadeja came on to bowl after the first six overs of powerplay and made an instant impact with twin strikes to send back Richie Berrington, bowled without scoring a run, and Matthew Cross trapped lbw for two.

“We just looked to play a good brand of cricket,” said Jadeja. “If we play like this, nobody can beat us. In T20s, we have to play like this, that is for sure.”

With Scotland’s top four back in the dugout at 29, Calum MacLeod (16) and Michael Leask put up some resistence during a 29-run stand. Jadeja broke through with his left-arm spin as he sent back Leask lbw for 21 and Ashwin got Chris Greaves for one.

The 16th over bowled by Shami was eventful: In three consecutive deliveries, McLeod’s off stump was knocked off, new batsman Safyaan Sharif was run out too easily, and Alasdair Evans was yorkered. Bumrah wrapped up the innings in 17.4 overs.

“A tough day at the office, we were outclassed in every department,” admitted Scotland skipper Coetzer.

Scoreboard

SCOTLAND

G. Munsey c Pandya b Shami 24

K. Coetzer b Bumrah 1

M. Cross lbw b Jadeja 2

R. Berrington b Jadeja 0

C. MacLeodb Shami 16

M. Leask lbw b Jadeja 21

C. Greaves c Pandya b Ashwin 1

M. Watt b Bumrah 14

S. Sharif run out (sub Kishan) 0

A. Evans b Shami 0

B. Wheal not out 2

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-3) 4

TOTAL (all out, 17.4 overs) 85

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13 (Coetzer), 2-27 (Munsey), 3-28 (Berrington), 4-29 (Cross), 5-58 (Leask), 6-63 (Greaves), 7-81 (MacLeod), 8-81 (Sharif), 9-81 (Evans), 10-85 (Watt).

BOWLING: Bumrah 3.4-1-10-2, Chakravarthy 3-0-15-0, Ashwin 4-0-29-1 (w3), Shami 3-1-15-3, Jadeja 4-0-15-3.

INDIA

K.L. Rahul c MacLeod b Watt 50

R. Sharma lbw b Wheal 30

V. Kohli not out 2

S. Yadav not out 6

EXTRAS (W-1) 1

TOTAL (for two wkts, 6.3 overs) 89

DID NOT BAT: R. Pant, H. Pandya, R. Jadeja, R. Ashwin, M. Shami, J. Bumrah, V. Chakravarthy.

BOWLING: Watt 2-0-20-1, Wheal 2-0-32-1 (w1), Evans 1-0-16-0, Sharif 1-0-14-0, Greaves 0.3-0-7-0.

RESULT: India won by eight wickets.

UMPIRES: Marais Erasmus (South Africa) and Rod Tucker (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: Joel Wilson (West Indies).

MATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Ravindra Jadeja (India).

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2021