India smash Scotland by eight wickets to give their NRR a big lift

All over! India complete chase in 6.3 overs to overtake AFG’s NRR

What a game for India this. They took full advantage of their success at the toss as the bowlers were all over the Scotland batsmen. Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami were unplayable in different ways as they folded for 85. India’s task was to chase that down in 7.1 to take their NRR ahead of Afghanistan’s. KL Rahul’s blistering 19-ball 50 ensured they completed the chase four balls earlier.

Rohit, Rahul blaze away!

India are going after Afghanistan’s NRR, and how! Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have taken on Scotland’s bowlers early on. The field restrictions is giving them the license here. They’ve already got 39/0 in 3 overs.

India’s NRR calculations:

– To take their NRR past Afghanistan’s, the chase needs to end in 7.1 overs

Scotland – 85 all out

It’s all over! Another yorker ends Scotland’s innings and this time it is from Bumrah. Mark Watt tried to get across and play the scoop but the ball was too straight, too full and too quick for him. With that Scotland have been bowled out for 85.

Seven, eight, nine down!

Shami picks his second and third wicket in the same over – one with a searing full and straight ball and another with a yorker. Between these two, there was a show of presence of mind from Ishan Kishan that earned India a run out. Scotland are nine down!

Scotland sink further

Ashwin bags his first of the night. Chris Greaves comes down the track and he doesn’t connect well. It’s been a tough night for Scotland batters and it’s becoming worse.

Scotland 65 for 6

Jadeja strikes again!

Michael Leask was looking to sweep a ball that wasn’t quite there for a sweep. It was much shorter and skidded on quickly under the horizontal bat. It got the back thigh but that was plumb leg before. Scotland are now five down!

Four down!

India are all over Scotland here. Jadeja fires a dart at Matthew Cross to trap him leg before. It seemed a straightforward decision for the umpire but Cross burned a review on his way back.

Oh Ravi Jadeja!

It’s the ball that he’s picked so many Test wickets with. And against some of the best batsmen. He gets Richie Berrington to commit forward and gets the ball to grip off the surface and hold its line to beat the outside edge. The bails light up, India light up! Scotland are 29/3.

Munsey departs!

No more Munsey-v-Ashwin for us tonight. Kohli brought in Shami after that one expensive over of Ashwin, and the pacer has struck. Munsey continued to throw caution to the winds and tried to take Shami on, only to hit one to mid on.

Bumrah strikes early!

Change of pace has undone the Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer. He was waiting for a pacy ball to come to him so he could hang back and offer a dead bat defence. But he used a variation and caught the skipper off-guard, before the ball sneaked under and struck the off-stump. Scotland are 1 down for 13 in the third over.

Playing XI:

Scotland: George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer(c), Matthew Cross(w), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Safyaan Sharif, Alasdair Evans, Bradley Wheal

India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah

Here’s what India need from this game:

If Scotland score 160, India need to chase it down in 11.3 overs to get their NRR to +1.000. If they chase it down in 7.4 overs, they can get their NRR past that of Afghanistan.

Stop the press, Virat Kohli has won the toss!India will bowl first here. Varun CV returns in place of Shardul Thakur.

As it stands….

The match against AFG is now a must-win game for #NZ – if they win they are through to semis; if they lose they will be eliminated and whoever has a higher NRR bw #India & #Afghanistan will qualify along with #Pakistan
#T20WorldCup

01:04 PM&nbsp• Nov 11, 2021

Prelude – India’s chance to take another step in the right direction

At the time of typing this, Namibia’s chase against New Zealand is starting to taper away (63/3 in 11 overs in chase of NZ’s 163/4), which means India will have to get their win tonight and sit through a nervy weekend where New Zealand and Afghanistan battle it out, before finding out what exactly they need to make the latest of late dashes to the SFs. If New Zealand win on Sunday, India’s fixture against Namibia will be insignificant in the scheme of things but if Afghanistan win it, and do so narrowly, India’s campaign would’ve suddenly come alive.

But before we skip across to Monday, India have to get past Scotland in a convincing manner to give their NRR a lift. They did it against Afghanistan, and should back themselves to pull it off against Scotland too.

But hold on. Scotland may have lost all their Super 12 games but they did give New Zealand a bit of a scare (and India such hope) just a couple of days ago when they ran the Kiwis close in a 16-run defeat. India will need a win of a far bigger margin to retain pressure on both New Zealand and Afghanistan.