Images from the T20 World Cup Super 12s match between Scotland and India, in Dubai, on Friday.
India produced a scintillating display with bat and ball to trounce Scotland by eight wickets in the T20 World Cup Super 12s match, in Dubai on Friday, to keep their hopes of progressing to the semi-finals alive.
The match lasted a mere 24.1 overs, as India first skittled out Scotland for 85 in 17.4 overs and finished off the chase in just 6.3 overs.
The thumping victory took India’s the Net Run-Rate to +1.619, which is now the best among all six teams in the Group 2, 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 K L Rahul (50 off 19 balls) and Rohit Sharma (30 off 16 balls) put on 70 in five overs to make sure they achieved it in style.
The fastest team 50 of this edition came inside four overs. The Scotland bowlers had no idea what hit them as the openers hammered 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. That will be determined on Sunday when Afghanistan take on New Zealand.
A win for Afghanistan will mean that India will know what’s needed against Namibia in their last match.
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 following the criticism after the defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand in their two matches.
There were conventional pulls, pick-up pulls, flat batted shots and slog sweeps which signalled his intent of demonising the bowlers.
It was scary batsmanship for any opposition and when he got out trying to get his fourth six, India had sealed victory.
Brad Wheal did pick up the wicket of Rohit for 30 off 16 balls, but that barely slowed the scoring, with Rahul reaching his sparkling 50 off just 18 balls in the next over.
The 29-year-old was caught in the deep off Watt, going for a big hit to wrap up the win.
Suryakumar Yadav sealed it in style with a stunning six off his second ball.
Earlier, India's seasoned bowlers made short work of unheralded Scotland, bundling them out for just 85 in 17.4 overs.
With an eye on the net run-rate, skipper Virat Kohli finally won a toss on his 33rd birthday and Jasprit Bumrah (2 for 10) made the life of Scottish batters miserable during his first spell.
The pacer surpassed Yuzvendra Chahal (65 scalps) to become India's highest wicket-taker in shortest version of the game.
Plucky left-hand 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. He then bowled a slower one which beat the Scotsman all ends up.
A lethal Mohammed Shami (3 for 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 Ravindra Jadeja (3 for 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 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 couldn’t find 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 the Indians hardly had to bowl too many effort balls to dismantle the opposition, save one when No. 10 Alasdair Evans was yorked by a 90mph thunderbolt by Shami.
It was one such happy evening in office where skipper Kohli wasn't bothered whether there was a sixth bowler available or not.
Ravichandran Ashwin (1 for 29) and Varun Chakravarthy (0 for 15) were also accurate for the better part of their spells.
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