T20 World Cup: India end campaign with nine-wicket win

Virat Kohli signs off as T20 captain with a victory

India ended their T20 World Cup campaign with a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Namibia at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday.

Chasing 133, Rohit Sharma (56 off 37 balls) and KL Rahul (54 not out off 36 balls) enthralled the fans with their superlative stroke-play to end Virat Kohli’s reign as T20 campaign on a winning note.

India reached the target in just 15.2 overs with Suryakumar Yadav (25 not out off 19 balls) also finding the gaps with ease.

With only the pride to play for after missing out on a semifinal berth from the weaker of the two groups in the Super 12, India fielded a strong team against minnows Namibia in their last game.

In his final match as T20 captain, Kohli won the toss and elected to field. His bowlers, led by the brilliant Ravichandran Ashwin (4-0-20-3) and Ravindra Jadeja (4-0-16-3) then restricted Namibia to 132 for eight in 20 overs.

India entered the field wearing black armbands as a mark of respect to Tarak Sinha, the legendary Delhi coach who passed away on Saturday at the age of 71 after a two-year battle with cancer.

Sinha had produced 12 international cricketers during his illustrious coaching career. And his most famous pupil, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, was in the thick of things on Monday, taking two catches behind the stumps.

Scotland failed to capitalize on a fine start provided by their openers Stephan Baard (21) and Michael van Lingen (14) who shared 33 runs in 4.4 overs.

But after Jasprit Bumrah (4-0-19-2) had Lingen caught by Mohammed Shami at mid-off, the Namibians lost their vigour, losing wickets at regular intervals.

David Wiese (26 off 25 balls) did put up a fight with the bat, but it was number 10 Ruben Trumpelmann (13 not out off six balls) whose late flourish allowed Namibia to post a decent total.

India had made only one change to the team, brining Rahul Chahar in place of Varun Chakravarthy.