Back in Business: Abhishek Sharma shines as India set up virtual quarterfinal vs West Indies

CHENNAI: It was a day everything went according to plan for India, starting with South Africa’s easy win against West Indies in Ahmedabad earlier in the day. That result smoothed out the rough edges of this Super 8 Group 1 and meant India would just have to win their remaining games to safely book a semis berth. And against a team like Zimbabwe, which is not quite ready for a stage as big as this, Suryakumar’s boys did the needful. As thousands of mobiles flickered in the MA Chidambaram Stadium stands, India got their campaign back on track, winning by 72 runs and setting up a direct ‘quarterfinal’ against the West Indies at Eden Gardens on Sunday.

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With a pleasant evening breeze blowing across the Chepauk, the fans never stopped partying. They had their reasons. The much-loved Abhishek Sharma came back to some sort of form with a 30-ball 55, new CSK signing Sanju Samson punched a quickfire 24 and the entire middle order got some good hits on a batting beauty. Zimbabwe, though, did make things easier for India. From choosing to bowl after winning the toss to bowling pedestrian pacers in the Powerplay to dropping catches at crucial junctures, the African minnows were just the team India would have liked at this stage of the tournament.

Towards the back end, they kept delivering lollipops in trying for the yorker and were thrashed for 17 sixes in the process. A total of 256/4 was comfortably India’s highest in the T20 World Cup, going past their previous best of 218.

It was way beyond Zimbabwe’s reach and they didn’t seem too interested in the chase. Zimbabwe instead chose to bat out the 20 overs and get some big-stage experience against top quality bowlers. Right-handed opener Brian Bennett (97 not out off 54 balls) played an innings of great quality that may stand him in good stead against some other opposition on some other day. But for now it’s the end of the road for Zimbabwe.

The quality of opposition notwithstanding, India had to get the runs and all eyes were on the recycled opening partnership of Sanju and Abhishek.

The left-hander, woefully out of form till now, wasn’t tested with off-spin, his nemesis so far in the tournament, in the Powerplay and he cashed in on it.

The blitz, though, was started by Samson, who punched a six off the back-foot over mid-off off left-arm pacer Richard Ngarava. Sanju was tested with short balls — he hit a few too — but fell to a similar delivery. However, with the score reading 48 off 3.4 overs, he had already done his job.

Thereafter, it was Abhishek’s turn to show that the hard work put in by him at the nets on Tuesday would pay dividends. The southpaw kept his head still and didn’t try to pre-meditate his shots. He also didn’t show the pacers his stumps and didn’t look to charge down the track. Instead he held his shape, stayed in his crease and looked to play the ball straight. Of course, there was nothing in the Zimbabwe attack that was really challenging but the Punjab cricketer kept his side of the bargain.

The crowd erupted in joy, the “Abhishek, Abhi-shek” chants grew louder as his beautifully crisp shots kept the scoreboard galloping. Even though India raced away to 80 in the Powerplay, Abhishek’s half-century, coming off 28 balls, was his second slowest in T20Is. Instead of looking for over-boundaries and power all the time, Abhishek didn’t mind the occasional boundary (4×4, 4×6). He played the field with great dexterity as India heaved a sigh of relief.

For reasons better known to Zimbabwe, skipper Sikandar Raza bowled only six overs of spin. He himself didn’t complete his quota despite dismissing Ishan Kishan while the other two shared three. They conceded 56 — a little over nine — while the pacers went anywhere between 10 to 20.

Hardik (50* off 23 balls) and Tilak (44* off 16 balls), batting at No. 6, found themselves back in the flow. But things may get tougher going forward.