India cruised to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Scotland in a Super 12 match of the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai on Friday to keep their hopes of semi-final qualification alive. After winning the toss and asking Scotland to bat first, India dominated proceedings with the ball. Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami picked up three wickets each while Jasprit Bumrah bagged two as Scotland collapsed for a paltry total of 85 runs. In response, KL Rahul hit a blistering fifty as India chased down the 86-run target with eight wickets and 81 balls to spare.

The comprehensive win not only kept India alive in the semi-final race but also gave a massive boost to their net run-rate (NRR), which could eventually prove decisive if New Zealand lose to Afghanistan on Sunday.

India, who lost their opening two games in this tournament to Pakistan and New Zealand, had an NRR of +0.073 ahead of the match against Scotland.

The nature of the win on Friday saw India’s NRR subsequently jump to +1.619, the best in the group. India, notably had an NRR of -1.609 after their opening two defeats.

Since then, however, India have registered thumping wins over Afghanistan and Scotland. The 66-run win over Afghanistan had taken India’s NRR into the positive.

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Friday’s resounding victory puts India in a position where they can take advantage of New Zealand slipping up against Afghanistan.

Afghanistan have an NRR of +1.481 while New Zealand’s NRR is +1.277. If Afghanistan do shock the Blackcaps and jump up the standings, India will need to make sure that they beat Namibia in their final group game and that their NRR stays above that of the Afghan side in order to reach the semis.