New Delhi: Rohit Sharma (37-ball 56) and Kl Rahul (35-ball 54) shared a solid match-winning 59-ball 86 partnership for the first wicket after Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin bowled magical spells to power India to 9-wicket win over minnows Namibia in their final match of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
Virat Kohli did not get to bat in his last game as T20 captain but he and coach Ravi Shastri did get to end their World Cup campaign on a high as team India managed to bow out with a resounding win over Namibia. Not only Kohli and Shastri, but even bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R. Sridhar's tenure with the national squad ends with a winning note. Batting coach Vikram Rathour has reapplied for the position.
Indian team, under the leadership of Virat Kohli, could not progress beyond the Super 12 stage. Virat led India in the World Cup for the first time as T20 captain but his captaincy once again proved to be a flop in an ICC event.
Virat Kohli took over the reins of Team India in 2017 after MS Dhoni left the captaincy and in the same year the team had to face defeat against Pakistan in the final of the Champions Trophy. Two years later, in the 2019 World Cup, Virat led India to 50-overs World Cup semi-finals, but were eventually knocked out by New Zealand.
In Test cricket, Virat Kohli-led India attained a historic win over Australia Down Under, twice. Seeing India's dominance in Test cricket, fans felt that Virat would finally win his maiden World Cup as India's skipper by winning the title of World Test Championship but India were crushed by New Zealand and the team had to return empty handed.
Coming back to the match, Virat Kohli, playing his last game as team India's T20I skipper, won the toss and decided to bowl first against minnows Namibia. Spinners Ravindra Jadeja (3/16) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3/16) spun a web around batters as the duo shared six wickets between them to rock their opponents.
Baard and Michael van Lingen gave their team a good start, playing some good strokes against Indian speedsters to push their team to 33/0, but Bumrah got the much-needed breakthrough and then spinners took over to get the job done. After losing quick wickets against India's formidable spin attack, Wiese, Frylinck and Trumpelmann chipped in with few runs in the death overs to push Namibia to a respectable total.
India playing XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
Namibia playing XI: Stephan Baard, Michael van Lingen, Craig Williams, Gerhard Erasmus (c), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Zane Green (wk), Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz