In what was the last group game of the tournament, India recorded a plain sailing 71-run win over Zimbabwe during the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022. The match took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday, November 6.
With their triumph against the Chevrons, the Men in Blue ended the group stages by topping the Group 2 table with four wins in five games. They will now face England in the second semi-final in Adelaide on Thursday, November 10.
After opting to bat first, India endured a nervy start, losing Rohit Sharma (15) inside the powerplay. KL Rahul, on the other hand, continued on with his impressive touch and hit a 35-ball 51. He stitched a 60-run partnership with Virat Kohli (25) to stabilize the Indian innings.
However, a mini collapse in the middle overs saw India lose three quick wickets for just 14 more runs. Just as Zimbabwe looked to make inroads in the Indian line-up, Suryakumar Yadav came up with another classy innings and scored 61* at a strike rate of 244 to take India's score to 186/5.
SKY took a toll on the Zimbabwean bowlers and entertained the crowd to the core with his exquisite strokeplay.
Zimbabwe had the worst-possible start to their run-chase as Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent Wesley Madhevere packing for a first-ball duck.
Wickets continued to fall for the Zimbabweans as they were left reeling at 36/5 in 7.3 overs before Sikandar Raza (34) and Ryan Burl (35) provided some stability to the innings. Just as Zimbabwe were starting to look dangerous, Ravichandran Ashwin provided India with an important breakthrough, castling Burl.
India eventually wrapped the Zimbabwean innings in 115, registering a comprehensive 71-run win.
The lop-sided game between India and Zimbabwe saw a slew of records broken. For starters, Ashwin's spell of 3/22 has now made him India's leading wicket-taker at the T20 World Cups. The wily off-spinner has taken 32 wickets in 23 T20 World Cup fixtures. On that note, this article will look at three more records that were broken or set today:
#3 Rohit Sharma becomes the first player to feature in 100 T20I wins
While he may have failed to make an impact with his batting on Sunday, Rohit Sharma etched his name in the history books for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, with the win over Zimbabwe, the Indian opener has now featured in as many as 100 T20 international wins. Rohit became the first-ever player to do so, having played 147 T20Is. Below Rohit, second on the list, is Shoaib Malik, who has appeared in 87 T20I wins for Pakistan.
Moreover, Sunday's win over the African side was Rohit's 21st T20I win as skipper this year - the highest number of T20I wins by any captain in a single year.
#2 Bhuvneshwar Kumar becomes the first-ever player to bowl 10 maiden overs in T20Is
Boasting an economy of under 5.5 in the ongoing T20 World Cup, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has quietly gone about his business in the tournament so far. The right-armer once again proved potent with the new ball, scalping a wicket on his very first ball and ending the innings with a figure of 1/11 from three overs.
Bhuvneshwar, who has a knack for bowling thriftily, started the proceedings with a maiden over as well. This took his maiden overs tally in T20Is to ten.
Bhuvneshwar's ten maiden overs is now the most a bowler has bowled in T20 internationals. Jasprit Bumrah, who has been ruled out of the ongoing competition due to an injury, is second on the list with nine maiden overs in his T20I career.
#1 Suryakumar Yadav is now the first-ever Indian to smash 1000 T20I runs in a single calendar year
En route to his fabulous knock of 61* from 25, Suryakumar Yadav achieved a significant personal milestone as he became the first-ever Indian to amass 1000 T20I runs in a single calendar year.
Going through a remarkable purple patch currently, the Mumbai lad has smashed a total of 1026 runs at an average of 44.6 and an immaculate strike rate of above 186 in the 28 matches he has played in 2022 so far.
The only other batter to have notched up the 1000-run mark in a single year in T20Is is Mohammad Rizwan, who scored 1326 runs in 2021.
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