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The crowd gathered at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi for the ICC T20 World Cup against Namibia got treated to spectacular knocks from Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, but team struggled to play their opponent's spin bowling, keeping them away from smashing a massive total and entertaining fans even more.
While the Men in Blue were exceptional against pace, getting 147 runs at loss of two wickets in 12 overs at an economy rate of 12.25 with just 23.6 per cent dots, they could get just 61 runs in eight overs at a loss of five wickets against spin, at an economy rate of 7.62 and a dot ball per centage of 45.8, playing out 22 dots against tweakers. Ishan gave India a blistering start with a 24-ball 61, taking Men in Blue to 100-run mark in just 6.5 overs, the fastest team hundred in T20 WC history. Before him, Sanju Samson, playing in absence of a sick Abhishek Sharma, smoked a quickfire 22 in eight balls, with a four and three overs. Kishan cracked India's fourth-fastest T20 WC fifty in 20 balls, with Yuvraj Singh (12 balls against England in 2007), KL Rahul (18 balls against Scotland in 2021) and Rohit Sharma (19 balls against Australia in 2024) occupying the podium spots. The left-hander is the third after Rohit and KL to make fifties in T20 WC during the powerplay and he is the third after Abhishek Sharma (thrice) and Rohit (twice) to repeat this feat more than once in T20Is. But after reaching 104/1 in seven overs, India had a slow-down in middle overs, scoring just 40 in next seven overs. In the last two overs, India lost five wickets, but scored just 10 runs, with Hardik Pandya (52 in 28 balls, with four boundaries and sixes each) and Shivam Dube (16-ball 23 with a four and six) being big blows. India ended with 209/9 in 20 overs. It was skipper Gerald Erasmus, who had a spectacular spell of 4/20 in four overs, troubling Indian bowlers single-handedly. (ANI)
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