T20 WC: India ousted as New Zealand clinch semifinal spot with comprehensive win over Afghanistan
Abu Dhabi, Nov 7: India were sent packing from the T20 World Cup after a clinical New Zealand clinched a facile eight-wicket triumph over Afghanistan in their final Super 12 game to claim the last available semifinal spot here on Sunday.
India's slim hopes hinged on Afghanistan upstaging the Black Caps as that would have brought the Net Run Rate into equation and opened the doors for Virat Kohli's men, who only have themselves to blame for the ouster now.
The Kiwis were favourites to win on the day and they hardly put a foot wrong, chasing down a small target of 125 in just 18.1 overs to join England, Australia and Pakistan in the last-four stage.
Sunday's result renders India's final league engagement against Namibia inconsequential. The team was outplayed in its first two Super 12 matches by Pakistan and New Zealand, which proved to be its undoing.
The side did bounce back for wins over Afghanistan and Scotland but the damage done by the previous two defeats was far too much.
Kane Williamson's men, who won four of their five Super 12 matches, will be up against either England or Australia in the semifinals.
Openers Daryl Mitchell (17), caught behind by the Mohammad Shahzad off Mujeeb ur Rahman, and Martin Guptill (28), who became Rashid Khan's 400th wicket in T20 cricket, were the only New Zealand wickets to fall in the afternoon match.
Williamson (40 not out, 42 balls, 3 fours) looked unhurried during his knock and his half-century partnership for the third wicket with Devon Conway (36 not out) guided the team home.
They negotiated the spin threat posed by Rashid, Mujeeb and Mohammed Nabi quite well to ensure that there was no drama.
Conway got over a tentative start and hit Nabi for two boundaries in the 14th over to speed up the chase after a brief lull.
Earlier, New Zealand pacers, led by Trent Boult (3/17), dished out a clinical performance to restrict Afghanistan to 124 for 8 in their final Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup here on Sunday.
Afghanistan, who needed to win to keep their semifinal hopes alive, reached the total mainly due to the efforts of Najibullah Zadran (73 off 48 balls). Zadran stood out in a rather tepid display by the rest of his team-mates.
He struck six fours and three sixes during his brilliant innings.
The Kiwi pace trio of Boult, Tim Southee (2/24) and Adam Milne (1/17) did not give anything away in the initial overs as the Afghan batters struggled to get going and in trying to force the pace of their innings.
Ish Sodhi (1/13) and Jimmy Neesham (1/24) were the other New Zealand wicket-takers. Neesham conceded only two runs from the final over of the Afghanistan innings.
The left-handed Zadran rescued Afghanistan with a 59-run fifth wicket stand with captain Mohammed Nabi (14). The team was placed at 56 for 4 in 10 overs when the two got together and dug their heels in.
However, there was very little support for Zadran from the other batters.
A flurry of wickets after the fall of Nabi, including that of Zadran, ensured that Afghanistan did not get to a middling score.
Boult sent back Zadran and Karim Janat (2) in the 19th over as the Kiwis took control of the match.
Afghanistan got off to a poor start, losing the openers inside the first four overs.
Shahzad (4) was the first to go in the third over when his uppercut off Milne flew to wicketkeeper Devon Conway, who leapt high to complete a good catch on the second attempt.
The wily Boult struck the second blow, getting Hazratullah Zazai when the batter's attempted flick took a leading edge for an easy catch to Mitchell Santner, leaving Afghanistan at 12 for 2.
Soon, it became 19 for 3 when Rahmanullah Gurbaz was leg-before to Tim Southee for 6.
Zadran and Gulbadin Naib (15) staged a mini recovery for Afghanistan with a 37-run partnership for the fourth wicket during which the former came up with some good shots.
However, leg-spinner Ish Sodhi broke through for the Kiwis when he had Naib chop a widish delivery on to his stumps.
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I ran to save my life: London-based singer recalls chaos at Messi event in Kolkata
Kolkata (PTI): What was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime musical tribute to football legend Lionel Messi turned into a harrowing experience for London-based Indian singer Charles Antony, who flew to the country specially to perform at the event at Salt Lake stadium here.
Antony, a Malayali who sings in 18 languages, including Bengali, had composed a special Spanish song for Messi to welcome him in Kolkata, but was not able to sing that as he ran for his life amid chaos during the December 13 event at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan here.
“I ran to save my life,” Antony told PTI, recalling how the celebration descended into mobocracy as crowd control collapsed inside the packed stadium.
Angry fans, many of whom had paid Rs 4,000 to Rs 12,000 — and in some cases up to Rs 20,000 in the black market — ran riot at the venue after failing to get even a glimpse of their favourite superstar from Argentina.
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“I had barely seen him. He was smiling, but it was very clear he was uncomfortable,” Antony vividly recalled, even after 10 days had passed.
Positioned on the running tracks near the gallery, the singer was waiting for Messi to complete his lap around the ground when the situation worsened.
Antony saw Messi, his long-time strike partner Luis Suárez and Argentine teammate Rodrigo De Paul being surrounded by many people.
He noticed water bottles, food packets, stones and metal objects being hurled from the gallery. Equipment was on the verge of being damaged, and panic had set in.
“I was lucky I was not injured, and none of my equipment was damaged,” he said.
The singer said there was confusion over reporting time, with instructions given to reach the venue at both 10.30 am and 9.30 am on December 13 for a sound check, and he had not had the opportunity to visit the stadium the previous day.
Personally invited by now-arrested event organiser Satadru Dutta to sing at the Messi events in Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi, Antony had travelled from London and was staying at the Hyatt Hotel here.
Having sung in the presence of Diego Maradona during his visit to Kolkata in 2016, an experience Antony describes as joyous and perfectly managed, the contrast was stark.
“When Maradona came to Kolkata in 2016, I was inside the inner circle. Nothing went wrong then. This time, I was outside the core circle," he said.
Antony said the size of the crowd, on both occasions, was huge.
“This is the first time in my life I saw nearly one lakh people in one place. Luckily, I got the chance to sing a couple of songs at the event. Otherwise, it would have been a waste of travelling all the way from London. And now, I have become the first Indian to sing with Maradona and for Messi," he said.
Antony said people began storming the ground after VVIPs were escorted through an underground exit and former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly left the stadium.
“That’s when the police told me to run to a safe place,” he said.
With no assistance from anyone, the singer grabbed whatever he could, his guitar, cables, mouth organs, and vocal processors, stuffing them into bags.
“Everyone was worried about the VVIPs. Nobody was concerned about my safety,” he said.
With his access tag still hanging around his neck, Antony felt even more vulnerable on that day.
“People misjudged me as one of the organisers. At one point, my life was under threat,” he said.
Police advised him to move towards the centre of the ground to avoid attacks from the galleries, he said.
Eventually, Antony ran all the way back to the hotel, later shifting to another hotel for safety.
“I had no time to look for anyone else. I ran to save my life,” he said.
In the aftermath, Antony tried repeatedly to contact Satadru Dutta to understand what would happen next, but could not reach him.
“There was complete uncertainty. I was getting very agitated,” he admitted.
He also witnessed the heartbreak of fans.
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“People had come from Meghalaya, Assam, Bengaluru just to see Messi. They couldn’t even see Messi and were very disappointed. and I saw many crying,” he said.
Antony clarified that he did not take any remuneration for the performances. The organisers only covered his travel costs from London and his accommodation in India.
Despite the ordeal, he refused to single out Satadru, the organiser, for mismanagement at the stadium.
“I don’t believe Satadru is solely responsible. He (Satadru) tried his best to stop people from coming close to Messi. But some others, possibly VVIPs, were taking selfies. He was visibly helpless. Everything went out of control,” Antony said.
For the singer, the day remains a painful memory, not just because he couldn’t sing for Messi, but because what should have been a celebration of football turned into a fight for survival.
