India crushes Scotland at ICC World T20; achieves target in less than seven overs
Dubai(PTI): India showed their class and might with an all-round effort as they pulverised Scotland by eight wickets in a Super 12 game on Friday, ensuring that they live to fight another day in the ICC T20 World Cup.
The entire match lasted a mere 24.1 overs as India first skittled Scotland for 85 in 17.4 overs and then batted for another 6.3 overs to knock off the runs, taking the net run-rate to +1.619, which is now best among all six teams, even better than top placed Pakistan (+1.065).
To surpass Afghanistan's current Net Run-Rate of +1.481, India needed to score the required runs in 7.1 overs and KL Rahul (50 off 19 balls) and Rohit Sharma (30 off 16 balls) added 70 in five overs to make sure that they achieve it in style.
The fastest team 50 of this edition came inside four overs and the poor Scotland bowlers had no idea what hit them as they hit a total of 11 fours and four sixes between them.
But that was the controllable part of the story. What they don't have any control over is their fate and now the Rashid Khans, Mohammed Nabis will determine it on Sunday against New Zealand.
A win for Afghanistan will mean that India will know how to win against Namibia and enter the semi-finals when no one expected them to. A New Zealand victory, though, will knock India out of the tournament.
The disdain with which Rahul batted showed how hurt the Indian team was and at least wanted to course correct the part that they could.
There were conventional pulls, pick-up pulls, flat batted shots and slog sweeps which signalled his intent of demonising the bowlers.
It was a scary batsmanship for any opposition and when he got out trying to get his fourth six, India had sealed the game. In fact, it was over in the first innings itself as Virat Kohli won a toss finally on his 33rd birthday and put Scotland into bat.
India's seasoned bowlers then made short work of the unheralded batting line-up with both Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja returning with identical career-best T20 figures of 3 for 15.
Jasprit Bumrah (2/10) surpassed Yuzvendra Chahal (63 scalps) to now become India's highest wicket-taker in shortest version.
Plucky left-handed opener George Munsey (24 off 19 balls) clipped Bumrah over square leg for a six and reverse swept Varun Chakravarthy for a boundary to signal positive intent but the gulf in class was always obvious.
Skipper Kyle Coetzer (1) was pegged on the backfoot by a Bumrah yorker first up and then he bowled a slower one which beat the Scotsman all ends up.
A lethal Shami (3/15) then sent back the dangerous looking Munsey, who failed to clear mid-on. That was the end of Scotland batting's brief bright spot.
The disciplined Jadeja (3/15), with his 'darts-like' accuracy, removed Matthew Cross (2), Richie Berrington (0) and Michael Leask (21 off 12 balls) in quick succession to blow away the middle-order.
Jadeja varied the pace of his deliveries but occasionally bowled the ones that skid through the surface hurrying the batters.
Once Scotland were 44 for 4 after 10 overs, there was no looking back for the Indian bowlers.
It was a game where even percentage bowling was enough to rattle the Scotland batters, who didn't find too many options to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Scotland's previous poor show with willow against weaker teams like Namibia and Afghanistan was an indicator that they wouldn't do any better against India.
Once half the side was out with less than 60 on the board, the lower order was caught between survival and attack.
Calum MacLeod (16 off 28 balls) laboured along before being cleaned up by Shami as Indians hardly had to bowl too many effort balls to dismantle the opposition.
Save one where No. 10 Alasdair Evans was yorked by a 90 mph thunderbolt by Shami.
It was one such happy evening in the office where skipper Kohli wasn't bothered whether there was a sixth bowler available or not.
Ravichandran Ashwin (1/29) and Varun Chakravarthy (0/15) were also accurate for the better part of their spells.
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India & Israel elevate ties to special strategic partnership, vow to soon conclude free trade deal
Jerusalem (PTI): India and Israel on Thursday elevated their "time-tested" relationship to a special strategic partnership and agreed to soon firm up a "mutually beneficial" free trade deal even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed the Gaza peace initiative, asserting that humanity must never become a victim of conflict.
Following talks between Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the two sides inked a plethora of agreements to expand cooperation in areas of trade, agriculture, energy, cyberspace and digital payment.
India and Israel also vowed to expand their already close defence partnership by working towards joint development and joint production of military hardware under the framework of the transfer of technologies.
In his media statement, Modi said India's security interest is linked to peace and stability in the Middle East, adding that New Delhi fully supports the Gaza Peace Initiative.
"India's stance is clear: humanity must never become a victim of conflict. A path to peace has been created through the Gaza Peace Plan. India has fully supported these efforts," he said.
"In the future as well, we will continue dialogue and cooperation with all countries," he said.
PM Modi landed in Israel on Wednesday on a two-day visit. It is his second visit to Israel in nine years.
In his remarks, the prime minister said India and Israel have a united view that there is no place for terrorism in the world and both sides stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering terrorism and its supporters.
"Our relationship is founded on the strong bedrock of deep trust, shared democratic values, and human sensitivities. Our bond has stood the test of every trial of time," he said.
"Today, we have taken the historic decision to elevate our time-tested partnership to the status of a 'Special Strategic Partnership'," he said.
The prime minister also announced the establishment of an India-Israel critical and emerging technologies partnership to impart a new momentum for cooperation in areas of artificial intelligence, quantum, and critical minerals. "I am pleased that an agreement has been reached for the use of UPI in Israel," he said.
The prime minister, referring to the threat of terrorism, said India and Israel will continue to confront the menace unitedly.
"India and Israel are completely clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world. In any form, in any expression, terrorism cannot be accepted," he said.
"We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposing terrorism and its supporters, and we will continue to do so," he added.
India and Israel also discussed the implementation of the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and cooperation under the framework of I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA).
