Records tumble as India thrash Scotland by 8 wickets with a staggering 81 balls to spare.
In response to the target of 86, India were always keen on finishing it off as quickly as possible. Should Afghanistan win their last game against New Zealand, it will come down to Net Run Rate between those two sides and India.
Considering that, it was important for the Men in Blue to keep on attacking right from the outset since India needed to chase the total down in 8.5 overs to go past NZ's net run rate, and in 7.1 overs to go past Afghanistan's one.
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul did not falter even an inch in the chase, reaching the 50-run mark in 3.5 overs - the fastest team fifty for India in T20Is and for any team in this year’s T20 World Cup.
A little while later, Scotland had something to cheer for at the dismissal of Rohit Sharma (30 off 16 balls). At that point, India were 70/1 in five overs.
KL Rahul reached his half-century in the next over. He played only 18 deliveries to claim the fastest fifty in this edition of T20 WC.
However, Rahul got dismissed in the next delivery he faced (50 off 19 balls) in an attempt to finish the game with a six.
At the end of the powerplay, they had 82/2 on the board - the highest powerplay total for India in T20Is and for any team in this World Cup.
Suryakumar Yadav finished it off in the third delivery of the seventh over with a six down the ground back over the bowler’s head.
India still had 81 balls in hand - making it the third-best win considering the number of balls to spare in T20 World Cups (after Sri Lanka against Netherlands with 90 balls in 2014 and Australia against Bangladesh with 82 balls yesterday.)
Earlier today, winning the toss, India elected to field first. It was always going to be an uphill task for the Scottish to post a challenging total on the board against an in-form Indian attack. Scotland lost both their openers within the powerplay, only managing to score 27 runs in that period.
After the powerplay, survival became even more difficult as Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy started to get some purchases off the surface. Specially Jadeja was nearly unplayable as he picked up a couple of scalps in his first spell at the expense of only 6 runs in two overs. Halfway through, Scotland were in all sorts of trouble at 44/4.
The latter half of the innings was nothing but the continuation of the struggle for the Scottish. At the end of the sixteenth over, they were 81/6.
In the following over, the scoreboard turned into 81/9 within three deliveries courtesy of two yorkers at the base of the stumps from Mohammed Shami and a run-out from the substitute fielder Ishan Kishan.
Jasprit Bumrah finished it off in the next over, becoming the highest wicket-taker for India in T20 Internationals. He surpassed Yuzvendra Chahal (63) in that process.
Shami and Jadeja were the pair that led the carnage with spells of 3/15 each.
For Scotland, there was not much to talk about. George Munsey was the top scorer with 24 runs off 19 deliveries.
Ravindra Jadeja claimed the Player of the Match award for his amazing spin bowling display.
