——- Australia beat Namibia to qualify for Super 8
——- Rain spoils Sri Lanka, Nepal clash
Sports Desk
NEW YORK: India defeated United States by 7 wickets and became the first team from Group A to enter Super Eights’ phase of the T20 World Cup after today’s match played at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York, on Wednesday.
Subsequently, India became the third team after South Africa and Australia to qualify for the next round.
Earlier, India put the USA into bat first and restricted them to 110/8. Pacer Arshdeep Singh was the best bowler for India, securing figures of 4/9 – the best-ever by an Indian in the history of the competition.
He dismissed Shayan Jahangir, Andries Gous, Nitish Kumar and Harmeet Singh
Nitish was the only batter for the USA, scoring 27 off 23 balls. Opener Steven Taylor chipped in with 24 (30).
Apart from Arshdeep, Hardik Pandya secured 2/14 while Axar Patel bagged figures of 1/25.
In chase, India were on the back foot at the start of the chase with pacer Saurabh Netravalkar dismissing Virat Kohli (0) and Rohit Sharma (3) in the powerplay.
Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav recover but Ali Khan clean bowled Pant (18) to put more pressure on India.
But a brilliant partnership from Yadav and Shivam Dube led India to the end of the chase. Yadav remained not out on 49-ball 50 while Dube made 31 off 35 balls. They completed the chase in 18.2 overs.
Earlier, In a superb display of the game, Australia outclassed Namibia after chasing the target of 73 runs in just 5.4 overs at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua, on Wednesday.
With the win, Australia also qualified for the Super 8 stage of the cricket event.
Namibian bowlers could only claim the wicket of David Warner, who scored 20 off 8 balls before being dismissed. Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh remained unbeaten with 34 and 18 runs respectively. Travis hit 5 fours and 2 sixes.
Earlier, Australia won the toss and invited the rivals to bat first who were all out after scoring only 72 runs in 17 overs.
Achieving the milestone, Australia’s Leg-spinner Adam Zampa became the first Australian male crick-eter to claim 100 wickets in T20I cricket. He achieved this feat with 4-12 figures in four overs.
Australian bowlers overpowered the batters throughout Namibia’s innings.
Pacer Josh Hazlewood took two wickets for 18 runs in four overs. Marcus Stoinis also contributed with two wickets as Namibia was dismissed in 17 overs.
Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus played 17 balls to score his first runs. However, he was the highest run-getter with 36 runs in 43 balls with the help of four fours and a six.
Apart from Erasmus, Michael van Lingen was the only batter who got into double figures with 10 runs.
This was the first competitive T20I between Australia and Namibia. But they played each other in a warm-up game before this tournament, with Australia registering a convincing seven-wicket win.
Earlier, The match between Sri Lanka and Nepal has been abandoned after the rain started again in Lauderhill on Wednesday.
The Group D match was to be played at the Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida.
Umpires decided to abandon the match. Now, Both teams got a point each from this washed out match.
Nepal still hold their position at fourth place with 1 point, due to a superior net run rate over Sri Lanka, who are still at the bottom of the group.
Sri Lanka lost both their games so far. They are on the brink of exit from the World Cup. Nepal, on the other hand, suffered defeat in their opening game to Netherlands. Both teams will have to win their respective matches to stay in the competition.
Three more matches are scheduled in Florida but weather conditions look bleak for the prospects of matches taking place. The USA will take on Ireland on Friday. Later, India will clash with Canada on the 15th and Pakistan with Ireland on the 16th.
