Published: Nov 06, 2021, 09:10 AM (IST)
Edited: Nov 06, 2021, 09:10 AM (IST)
Dubai: India captain Virat Kohli couldn’t have asked for a better gift on his 33rd birthday as his team kept their slim chances alive of qualifying for the semifinals of ICC T20 World Cup 2021. On the big occasion, Kohli not only won the first toss of the showpiece event but his team also recorded a thumping eight-wicket victory over Scotland in its penultimate Super-12 match on Thursday night. The Men in Blue, consisting of three spinners for the first time in the tournament, gave their captain a fitting gift as India leapfrogged Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup points table with a superior NRR of +1.619.
The Indian skipper didn’t go overboard after India’s second consecutive dominating victory in the T20 World Cup 2021 even though he rued the absence of a couple of ‘good overs’ which could have possibly changed the outcomes of the games against Pakistan and New Zealand. In the previous game, India beat Afghanistan by 66 runs. However, the losses against Pakistan and New Zealand meant that now their fate depends on the Afghanistan-New Zealand game on Sunday.
Yet another dominant performance by #TeamIndia to seal an emphatic win 💪
Good night from Dubai! 👋#T20WorldCup #INDvSCO pic.twitter.com/r1dzwobfnh
BCCI (@BCCI) November 5, 2021
“It’s a dominating performance. It was something we were striving to again. I don’t want to say too much about today because we know how we can play,” said Kohli at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“These little things in T20 cricket (toss, conditions) matter and we’re glad to be back in our mojo.” Kohli though regretted the fact they could not play their usual dominant games against Pakistan and New Zealand.
“We basically broke it down to the fact that we couldn’t get away at all in those two games, two overs could have made the difference. I’m just pleased everyone is getting into their own,” he said. The India skipper said they wanted to restrict Scotland to ‘100-120 max’.
“But we restricted them to a total that allowed us to leapfrog everyone else. We spoke about finishing in the 8-10 over bracket. You don’t want to go in with a six-and-a-half or a seven-and-half run mark because then you’re doing too much. We gave that bracket and allowed them to get that momentum.”
KL Rahul (50) and Rohit Sharma (30) came out all guns blazing as they scored 70 runs in first five overs to seal the deal for India. “If you look at our practice games as well, the guys have been batting like that. Two overs of cricket like that and the momentum of the tournament could have been completely different.”
Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer admitted that they were ‘outclassed in every department’. “But the only way we’ll improve is going through games like that and seeing it head on. Mark’s been excellent, he’s got an array of skills. Great to see him learning from other spinners here as well and that’s why these tournaments are important,” he said.
