India have defeated Zimbabwe by 71 runs to win the last Super 12 match of ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Melbourne. A victory in a dead-rubber match means that India is the only team to have finished Super 12s with eight points under their belt.
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Having qualified for the semi-final after Netherlands beat South Africa in Adelaide this morning, India have ensured a top of the points table finish. As a result, Rohit Sharma and his men will now face England in the second semi-final in at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
India, who bundled out the opposition for 115 in 17.2 overs in a 187-run chase, registered their biggest victory against this opposition in the process tonight. Barring all-rounder Axar Patel (0/36), all other Indian bowlers were among the wickets with spinner Ravichandran Ashwin being the best among them with figures of 4-0-22-3. In addition to Ashwin, pacer Mohammed Shami and all-rounder Hardik Pandya dismissed a couple of batters each.
For Zimbabwe, all-rounder Ryan Burl (35) and Sikandar Raza (34) tried a bit to come closer to a formidable target but failed due to lack of support from the remaining Zimbabwean batters.
Who won IND vs ZIM Man of the Match today?
Sharma and his predecessor Virat Kohli scoring a combined total of 41 (38) between them called for a cautious start. The two senior batters hitting a total of four boundaries affected the impact created by vice-captain KL Rahul scoring 51 (35) comprising of three fours and as many sixes.
However, it was batter Suryakumar Yadav’s game-changing innings in the second half of the Indian innings which really pushed India to set a match-winning total. Yadav, who scored 61* (25) with the help of six fours and four sixes, was doubtlessly an ideal contender of the Player of the Match award.
Playing his 39th T20I, Yadav has been adjudged the Player of the Match for the eighth time (sixth in 2022) in his career. Since his T20I debut last year, Yadav has now won the joint-maximum number of match awards in this format.
