T20 World Cup: Shami, Jadeja roll over Scotland for 85
Dubai (PTI): India's seasoned bowlers made short work of the unheralded Scotland by bundling them out for just 85 in 17.4 overs in a Super 12 game of the ICC T20 World Cup here on Friday.
With one eye on the net run-rate, skipper Virat Kohli finally won a toss on his 33rd birthday and pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/10), made the life of Scottish batters miserable during his first spell.
Bumrah surpassed Yuzvendra Chahal (65 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 Mohammed 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 dsciplined Ravindra 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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Killing of Khamenei cynical violation of human morality, international law: Putin
Moscow (PTI): The killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in his message to his Tehranian counterpart, the Kremlin said Sunday.
Khamenei was killed in an airstrike in Tehran on Saturday during a joint Israel-US attack on Iran.
“Please accept my deepest condolences in connection with the assassination of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and members of his family, committed in a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law,” Putin said in his condolence message.
Putin's condolence message to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was published on the Kremlin portal.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia condemned the US-Israeli joint strikes on Iran qualifying it as an “unprovoked” aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law and called for immediate return to diplomacy.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also described the US and Israeli forces' strikes against the Iranian territory as “a pre-planned” act of aggression against an independent UN member state.
Putin also conducted an emergency meeting of the National Security Council online on Saturday to discuss the emerging situation following the US-Israeli strikes and Iran’s retaliation.
Meanwhile, according to reports more than 2,00,000 Russians are stuck in the region due to closure of their airspaces by Iran and Gulf countries.
The situation in the Middle East and the airport closures have affected not only organised tourists from Russia registered with tour operators, but also those travelling on business trips and independently, state-run TASS news agency reported.
“Approximately 2,00,000 people are unable to leave the UAE or return from vacations in the Maldives and other countries,” Alexey Volkov, president of the National Union of Hospitality Industry, told TASS.
UAE and its airports have become a main hub of access to Russia since the Ukraine conflict and closure of EU air space for civilian air traffic under sanction on Moscow.
“The situation remains complex and unpredictable: drone and missile strikes have hit key tourist locations in the UAE, including its most famous hotels.
“And then there are those who aren't counted as tourists at all, but are travelling around the world for business—the Middle East, for example, is currently a major business hub, home to a significant amount of Russian capital, investment, and business,” Volkov said.
