Sat, Jun 22, 2024 page7

• India cruise, Aussie Cummins takes hat-trick

  • AP, BRIDGETOWN, Barbados
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  Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah on Thursday took three wickets for just seven runs as India beat Afghanistan by 47 runs in their Super Eight match at the Men’s T20 World Cup.

  Later, Pat Cummins took the first hat-trick of the tournament as Australia beat Bangladesh by 28 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis system due to rain delays.

  Bumrah’s four-over spell was aided by Arshdeep Singh, who finished with 3-36, while spinners Kuldeep Yadav (2-32) and Axar Patel (1-15) shared three wickets as Afghanistan were bowled out for 134 runs.

  

  Australia’s Pat Cummins bowls against Bangladesh in their Men’s T20 World Cup Super Eight match in North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda, on Thursday.

  Photo: AP

  Suryakumar Yadav scored 53 off 28 balls — his fifth T20 World Cup half-century — as India reached 181-8 in 20 overs after deciding to bat.

  Yadav, named player of the match, hit three sixes and five fours, while Hardik Pandya scored 32 off 24 balls, including two sixes.

  “I am clear in my mind how I want to bat,” Yadav said. “There’s a lot of hard work, process and routine involved in it. You just need to know your game plan and just play accordingly. In the end, we were happy with 180.”

  

  India’s Hardik Pandya, right, plays a shot against Afghanistan in their Men’s T20 World Cup Super Eight match at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Thursday.

  Photo: AP

  On a slow-paced Barbados wicket, India had made a sluggish start. Skipper Rohit Sharma was out caught for 8, while star batter Virat Kohli only managed a run-a-ball 24.

  Rishabh Pant, batting at three, provided some acceleration — he scored 20 off 11 balls with four fours.

  Afghanistan skipper and wrist-spinner Rashid Khan did damage to India’s top order, dismissing both Kohli and Pant, the latter out leg before wicket.

  It was the first time Khan picked up wickets against India in T20s.

  India were down to 62-3 in 8.3 overs when Yadav played a rescuing hand. He added 28 of 14 balls with Shivam Dube (10) and then the match-turning 60 runs with Pandya.

  Yadav’s stand with Pandya came off only 37 balls as India scored 102 runs off the final 10 overs.

  Rashid Khan finished with 3-26 in four overs.

  Afghanistan’s chase got off to a poor start against Bumrah — he sent back openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (11) and Haratullah Zazai (2) cheaply.

  In between, Axar Patel struck in the fourth over as Ibrahim Zadran was out for 8, and Afghanistan slipped to 23-3 in 4.1 overs. Ravindra Jadeja had 1-20 in three overs.

  Afghanistan lost their final five wickets for 32 runs across 28 deliveries as India crossed the finish line with ease.

  In North Sound, Antigua, Cummins claimed the first hat-trick of the tournament as Australia beat Bangladesh by 28 runs after rain delays forced the result to go to the Duckworth-Lewis system.

  Cummins dismissed Mohammad Mahmudullah and Mahedi Hasan with the final two balls of the 18th over and Towhid Hridoy with the first ball of the 20th as Australia restricted Bangladesh to 140-8.

  Australia were 100-2 when heavy rain set in after 11.2 overs, well ahead of the winning score they needed at the time. The umpires finally called off the match at about 12:30am local time.

  Cummins was the seventh player to complete a hat-trick — three wickets with three balls — at a Men’s T20 World Cup and the second Australian after Brett Lee, who achieved the feat, also against Bangladesh, in 2007.

  “I had no idea,” Cummins said. “At the end of the over I saw it come up on the screen so I thought I’ll make sure I remember, but I totally forgot about it. I had a few [hat-tricks] in juniors, but never for Australia.”

  David Warner and Travis Head then shared a 65-run opening partnership in 6.5 overs to set up Australia’s run chase. Head was out for 31, but Warner went on to make a half-century from 34 balls. He finished 53 not out.

  Mitchell Starc bowled Tanzid Hasan with the third ball of the match after Australia sent Bangladesh in and Bangladesh struggled to create momentum.

  Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto made 41 from 36 balls and shared a half-century partnership from 42 balls with Litton Das (16), but after the second-wicket pair were separated with the total at 58-2 in the ninth over, Bangladesh struggled to create partnerships.

  Adam Zampa dismissed both Litton Das and Shanto, bowling Das with a ball that snuck under the bat and cannoned off the back leg onto the stumps. Shanto knelt to sweep a ball which skidded on to hit the knee roll in front of middle stump.

  Zampa also took a catch from Glenn Maxwell’s bowling to remove Rishad Hossain, who had been promoted up the order to hurry the scoring, but managed only 2 from four balls.
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