Rahul scores a half-century as well, and when Zimbabwe falls short of the necessary 187 runs, India advances to the semifinals to take on England. Suryakumar Yadav’s superb bowling in the final overs helped India achieve a commanding 186 for 5, with Suryakumar scoring 61 not out off 25. After having Zimbabwe down to 28 for 3 at the end of the powerplay and 36 for 5 shortly after, India’s quicks quickly put an end to the match.

Zimbabwe opposition might be found in several places. Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza each took a wicket in the 12th, 13th, and 14th overs of India’s innings. After that, Raza and Ryan Burl added 60 runs off 35 innings for the sixth wicket, but Zimbabwe’s run rate was never really able to match the needed pace.

But aside from that, India dominated. KL Rahul made 51 off of 35 to score his second consecutive fifty. With his 26 off 25, Virat Kohli recovered the top spot on the tally of runs scored during the competition.

Following their stunning usage of swing to capture a wicket in each of their opening overs, Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the next two wickets, followed by Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya. Finishing up, R Ashwin completed with three for twenty-two from four overs. The outcome was a 71-run triumph.

You bowl to Suryakumar where? Before their semi-final on Thursday, England must now attempt to solve this.

Tendai Chatara ended the 18th over with a beautiful six over extra cover, but the more remarkable shots were over fine leg. Zimbabwe tried to go full and wide to Suryakumar while stacking the offside. However, the batsman continued to toss his front leg over to the side, at times reaching the wide markers on the crease. Then, he swept two of those balls all the way over the fine-leg limit with such tremendous force that it seemed to practically defy physics.

The final ball of the inning was another wide full toss, but since fine leg was back, Suryakumar chose to shovel it over his left shoulder instead, with the ball once more carrying narrowly past the rope.


However, Rahul had been primarily responsible for giving Suryakumar the opportunity. After batting out a maiden against Richard Ngarava in the first innings, he blasted a six over deep square leg in the middle of Ngarava’s second over and appeared to be in control after that.

The second of two further sixes, both down the ground, brought up his half-century. But there was plenty of intelligent running in between, especially when Virat Kohli was around.

Zimbabwe did start to rally between the 12th and 15th overs, despite Rahul’s fifty. Kohli was first dismissed by Williams after being caught at long-off. Rahul was caught trying to recreate the six that had brought him past fifty the previous ball as Raza slowed the ball down and forced him to throw a high catch to long-off once more.

Burl, who was at long-on, made an excellent sprinting catch of left-hander Rishabh Pant for the third wicket. Williams bowled one that Pant hit flat and hard, but Burl raced full-speed along the boundary to get both hands on it and complete the catch with a dive.

A Zimbabwe victory during the powerplay was all but impossible thanks to India’s seamers after they scored 83 runs in their final six overs of their innings. Wessly Madhevere nearly middled a late-swinging Bhuvneshwar delivery, but Kohli at short cover grabbed a sharp catch diving low to his right.

Arshdeep came next and swung one through Regis Chakabva’s defences. Williams then sliced one to deep third in the final seconds on the powerplay. The road became too steep when Craig Ervine was caught and bowled by Hardik Pandya in the seventh over and Tony Munyonga was caught in front by Shami the over after.

Even Burl and Raza’s stellar defence was never really jeopardised.