CRICKET – DEFENDING champions India continued their march towards the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup with a 93-run plastering of Namibia in a group A contest at Arun Jaitley Stadium yesterday.
Put into bat, India racked up 209-9 after opener Ishan Kishan (61) and middle-order batter Hardik Pandya (52) struck rapid half-centuries.
They returned to bundle out Namibia for 116 in 18.2 overs to register their second successive victory and top the group because of their net run-rate, which is superior to Pakistan, who also have four points from two games.
The Asian arch-rivals will clash in a blockbuster in Colombo on Sunday.
With Abhishek Sharma, currently the top-ranked T20 batsman, still recovering from a stomach infection, an out-of-form Samson had another opportunity to impress after India were put into bat.
Samson (22) looked keen to make it count too. The right-hander smacked three sixes but frittered away the start and fell in the second over.
Kishan was given lbw on 11 but the opener immediately reviewed the decision and replays confirmed he had edged it before the ball hit his pad.
Namibia wished it was not the case because Kishan went on to smash JJ Smit for four sixes in a row to race to a 20-ball fifty.
To make matters worse for Namibia, Louren Steenkamp dropped Tilak Varma (25) when the batter was on 19.
India needed 4.3 overs to reach 50, and their next 50 came off just 14 balls
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