A perfect night, almost: Kishan, Pandya, Varun star in India's 93-run rout of Namibia
It was an easy win for India against Namibia at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Thursday. However, such is the aura of this Indian team. Even when they comprehensively beat the opposition, there is always a feeling that more could have been done.
India posted a 200-plus total after batting first. Dismissed the opposition with 10 balls to spare and posted their biggest win by runs in the T20 World Cup. Ishan Kishan scored a 20-ball fifty. Hardik Pandya followed it up with a 27-ball half-century before taking two wickets. Varun Chakravarthy took three wickets in just two overs. They did everything that was expected of them. And yet it felt like something was missing.
But it was a vastly improved performance in comparison to the opener against the USA. And India will happily take it.
SANJU’S CAMEO
India made two changes in the playing XI that beat the USA in Mumbai last week. One was a forced change. Abhishek Sharma, the BCCI said on ‘X’, was “still recovering from his illness and was unavailable for selection”. Sanju Samson took his place at the top of the order. The second one was made obvious by the fact that Jasprit Bumrah was fit. Mohammed Siraj, who took three wickets in the first match against USA, made space for Bumrah.
Samson’s stay in the middle was short and fruitful by T20 standards as he provided the initial spark for India, clubbing three sixes and a four to score 22 off just eight balls. Samson picked out the only deep fielder on the leg side to end his innings but his scintillating knock allowed Ishan Kishan the time and space to measure the pitch.
Seeing his opening partner depart probably shook Kishan out his laziness as immediately brought forth his true self. Kishan smashed leftarm medium pacer J o h a n n e s Jonathan Smit for four consecutive sixes and collected 28 runs from the final powerplay over. It took Kishan to a 20-ball fifty and helped India post the fourthhighest powerplay score — 86 for 1 — in the history of the T20 World Cup (highest being 92 for 1 by West Indies vs Afghanistan in 2024).
He looked set for his second T20I hundred but couldn’t find enough power in his pull shot off a short ball from Erasmus and was caught at mid-wicket. The dismissal averted what looked like a realistic shot at the highest total in the T20 World Cup, if not the first 300-plus score. Even though Tilak Verma and Suryakumar Yadav struggled to keep up the momentum provided by Kishan and Samson, Hardik ensured that they stayed on course to score in the vicinity of 250.
ERASMUS PATRONUS
The only reason India could score just 209 was Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus, who claimed his career-best T20 bowling figures of 4 for 20. He is a typical T20 bowler who makes up for his lack of skill with a vast variety of release points — from high-arm to round-arm and everything in between.
His four wickets included two in the 19th over of the innings, which also saw a runout dismissal. That over started a late collapse and denied India a perfect finish. In the final 12 balls of the innings, India lost five wickets and scored only 10 runs.
VARUN SUPREMACY
In the chase, Namibia openers Jan Frylinck and Louren Steenkamp were impressive for a brief period. They were 67 for 1 in 7 oves. But introduction of Varun took the wind out of their sails as the mystery spinner clinched three wickets with his first 10 balls. Erasmus tried to do with the bat what he had just done with the ball and smacked two sixes off Axar Patel to show his intentions.
But the left-arm spinner had his revenge in the next over and the effectively ended any hopes of a fight from the Associate nation.
BRIEF SCORES: India 209 for 9 (Kishan 61 off 24, Hardik 52 off 28; Erasmus 4/20) beat Namibia 116 in 18.2 overs (Steenkamp 29 off 20, Frylinck 22 off 15; Varun 3/7, Axar 2/20, Hardik 2-21) by 93 runs
India posted a 200-plus total after batting first. Dismissed the opposition with 10 balls to spare and posted their biggest win by runs in the T20 World Cup. Ishan Kishan scored a 20-ball fifty. Hardik Pandya followed it up with a 27-ball half-century before taking two wickets. Varun Chakravarthy took three wickets in just two overs. They did everything that was expected of them. And yet it felt like something was missing.
But it was a vastly improved performance in comparison to the opener against the USA. And India will happily take it.
SANJU’S CAMEO
India made two changes in the playing XI that beat the USA in Mumbai last week. One was a forced change. Abhishek Sharma, the BCCI said on ‘X’, was “still recovering from his illness and was unavailable for selection”. Sanju Samson took his place at the top of the order. The second one was made obvious by the fact that Jasprit Bumrah was fit. Mohammed Siraj, who took three wickets in the first match against USA, made space for Bumrah.
Samson’s stay in the middle was short and fruitful by T20 standards as he provided the initial spark for India, clubbing three sixes and a four to score 22 off just eight balls. Samson picked out the only deep fielder on the leg side to end his innings but his scintillating knock allowed Ishan Kishan the time and space to measure the pitch.
Seeing his opening partner depart probably shook Kishan out his laziness as immediately brought forth his true self. Kishan smashed leftarm medium pacer J o h a n n e s Jonathan Smit for four consecutive sixes and collected 28 runs from the final powerplay over. It took Kishan to a 20-ball fifty and helped India post the fourthhighest powerplay score — 86 for 1 — in the history of the T20 World Cup (highest being 92 for 1 by West Indies vs Afghanistan in 2024).
He looked set for his second T20I hundred but couldn’t find enough power in his pull shot off a short ball from Erasmus and was caught at mid-wicket. The dismissal averted what looked like a realistic shot at the highest total in the T20 World Cup, if not the first 300-plus score. Even though Tilak Verma and Suryakumar Yadav struggled to keep up the momentum provided by Kishan and Samson, Hardik ensured that they stayed on course to score in the vicinity of 250.
ERASMUS PATRONUS
The only reason India could score just 209 was Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus, who claimed his career-best T20 bowling figures of 4 for 20. He is a typical T20 bowler who makes up for his lack of skill with a vast variety of release points — from high-arm to round-arm and everything in between.
His four wickets included two in the 19th over of the innings, which also saw a runout dismissal. That over started a late collapse and denied India a perfect finish. In the final 12 balls of the innings, India lost five wickets and scored only 10 runs.
VARUN SUPREMACY
In the chase, Namibia openers Jan Frylinck and Louren Steenkamp were impressive for a brief period. They were 67 for 1 in 7 oves. But introduction of Varun took the wind out of their sails as the mystery spinner clinched three wickets with his first 10 balls. Erasmus tried to do with the bat what he had just done with the ball and smacked two sixes off Axar Patel to show his intentions.
But the left-arm spinner had his revenge in the next over and the effectively ended any hopes of a fight from the Associate nation.
BRIEF SCORES: India 209 for 9 (Kishan 61 off 24, Hardik 52 off 28; Erasmus 4/20) beat Namibia 116 in 18.2 overs (Steenkamp 29 off 20, Frylinck 22 off 15; Varun 3/7, Axar 2/20, Hardik 2-21) by 93 runs
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