Dubai, November 6: India needed to win big against Scotland to stay relevant in the race for ICC T20 World Cup 2021 semifinals, at least till Sunday. They did that quite spectacularly hammering the Scotts.
India followed the template of the tournament after the winning the toss, electing to bowl. The Virat Kohli-led side needed to chase down the target in 8.1 overs to overtake New Zealand net run rate and 7.1 overs to surpass that of Afghanistan.
So, it was clear that the bowlers needed to deliver. Here India altered their template slightly, picking up three spinners — R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy in place of Shardul Thakur.
It was only the second time since 2019, India picked three spinners in their playing 11. The last time they did was against Bangladesh at New Delhi when Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Krunal Pandya failed to defend 148 for 6.
Here Kohli did not have any doubt about the nature of the pitch that had already hosted India vs New Zealand and Australia vs England matches, and both were low-scoring fairs.
Varun, who recovered in time from an injury, bowled a fine spell upfront in the Power Plays 2-0-7-0 that denied Scotland an early momentum. But Ashwin conceded three fours in a row against George Munsey.
But once the Power Play segment ended Jadeja entered the scene and showed the kind of form that was missing in the earlier matches. A pitch slight hint of turn can make Jadeja immensely dangerous because of his control.
The left-arm spinner bagged the crucial wicket of Michael Leask, who was looking dangerous with a 12-ball 21, in the 12th over. Had he been there for a couple of overs more, India just might have to chase a target that possibly could not have been done in that aforementioned over bracket.
An arm ball on the stumps beat Leask’s attempt to sweep and thudded on to his pads and umpire did not have think even for a moment to uphold the verdict. It happens when Jadeja is in full tilt, he gives little margin for error for batsmen.
Once Ashwin came back, Scotland was already in disarray and his bag of tricks were too much to handle for later order batsmen. They really have not played a bowler who deliver carrom ball, reverse carrom ball etc, and he bagged the wicket of last genuine batsman in Scotland ranks, all-rounder Chris Greaves.
Scotland slid to 63 for 6 in 13.4 overs. Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah then did the rest of the job to clean up the tail.
Jadeja was happy with his personal effort. "I was enjoying bowling. The old ball was turning and spinning so I enjoyed very much. The first wicket (Richie Berrington) was the special one. When you get the batter like that on a turning ball it is a special wicket," said Jadeja.
Jadeja defeated Berrington’s effort to cover the angle and play across with a quicker one that slid on him, a testimony of his accuracy.
“We looked to bowl in good areas because the ball was gripping, the old ball was turning and spinning. So, I think the key was to bowl in the right areas as a spinner, and this wicket was doing the job too," he said.
Throwing light on his role, Jadeja said: “My role was the same. I look to take wickets in middle overs, and whenever I get an opportunity try and bowl like how I used to bowl. And just because we are playing against Scotland we used a simple basic plan,” he said.
Jadeja also found a template for India to follow in future matches.
"We looked to play a good brand of cricket. We knew we had to win with a big margin so we could improve our net run-rate so we gave 100 per cent and did what we had to.
“If we play like this no one can beat us. We have to play like this in the T20 format,” he said.
Every time India will not play three spinners, but it is magical when the move comes off like it did against Scotland.
