T20 World Cup: India Roll Over Namibia in Delhi

It wasn’t ever really a fair contest between heavyweights India and minnows Namibia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, but at one particular point, the visitors weren’t completely out of it. Even if fleetingly so. This was at the end of the sixth over of the chase, bowled by Arshdeep Singh – India’s highest-ever wicket-taker in the format, no less – and once he was smashed for a couple of fours and a six by opener Louren Steenkamp, Namibia were 57/1 at the end of six overs: the African side’s highest-ever total in a powerplay at the World Cups.

The run-rate was on the mark, given they were going after India’s target of 210, and they had only lost the solitary wicket until then. Then, despite the introduction of the dangerous Jasprit Bumrah in the following over, Namibia milked ten more runs to at least stay on course for the impossible, the impossible seeming a little less so at this stage of 67/1 in 7 overs.

 This is when India captain Suryakumar Yadav brought his trump card, Varun Chakaravarthy, into the attack. And in the space of seconds, a punctuation had been placed against Namibia’s hopes, in turn going on the cause the largest margin of victory for the hosts (in terms of runs) at a T20 World Cup – 93 runs. This is how it happened.

Very first ball of Chakaravarthy’s spell, the leg-break bowler started off with a back-of-the-hand googly, as he often tends to, and ended up shattering Steenkamp’s stumps, who had swung his willow wildly around the ball. The opener was out for 29 – which would later be Namibia’s highest individual score of the evening by quite a distance – and the spinner conceded only four runs from the rest of the over.

Chakaravarthy’s spin-mate, Axar Patel, however, wasn’t so lucky. Brought on for his first over soon after Varun’s, Patel was smacked for two towering sixes by Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus, the over eventually costing India 14 runs. This once again brought Namibia back on track with the required run rate, as their score was now 85/2 after 9 overs. Again, with wickets in hand and well on track to mount a chase, the Namibians could have sensed a reignition of hope. But if they did, Chakaravarthy stamped it right out and into the Delhi ground in the following over.

With his second ball, a floater outside off stump, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton holed out at long-off and two deliveries later, new batter JJ Smit attempted a big slog and was bowled by yet another googly, leaving the Namibian scoreboard in shambles at 88/4 at the end of his second over. Varun’s figures read: 3/7. Primed to pick up his third five-for in T20 internationals for India, the crowd at the Kotla eagerly waited the return of Chakaravarthy to the bowling crease. But on Thursday, he simply never did.

Perhaps Surya’s intention was to give his best bowler a rest before the big game against Pakistan on Sunday; perhaps it was to not expose his skills and magic at this early a stage in the tournament. But with Chakaravarthy’s contribution ending after just two overs, in which time he ended Namibia itself, India’s all-rounders went on to share the remaining spoils – two of those wickets falling to Hardik Pandya.

This made Pandya the first Indian to score a fifty and take two wickets in a T20 World Cup game, and hence the Player of the Match, having bashed a 28-ball 52 after India were asked to bat first. It was essentially this half-century that helped his side cross the 200-run mark, after once threatening 300 at the end of the powerplay largely thanks to Ishan Kishan’s exploits. Kishan’s 61 blistering runs ensured India were 104 runs after just 7 overs. But when he got out soon after, triggering a light collapse, Pandya took over and dragged India to 205 by the time he was dismissed, after which five wickets fell in the space of the next five runs.

Brief scores: India 209/9 (Ishan Kishan 61, Hardik Pandya 52; Gerhard Erasmus 4/20) beat Namibia 116 all out (Louren Steenkamp 29; Varun Chakaravarthy 3/7, Hardik Pandya 2/21) by 93 runs.