Despite a massive 72-run win over Zimbabwe, India finished behind West Indies in net run rate. Due to the expensive bowling of Shivam Dubey, the team could not achieve the required NRR. Now the next match against West Indies is a virtual quarter-final for the semi-finals.
Chennai: Despite a big win of 72 runs against Zimbabwe, Team India could not leave West Indies behind in the Super 8 points table. In fact, after the crushing defeat against South Africa, India’s Net Run Rate (NRR) had gone down considerably. To improve this, India had to win against Zimbabwe by a margin of more than 108 runs. According to the report of Cricinfo, even if Team India had limited Zimbabwe to 148 runs, it would have overtaken West Indies in NRR. But this could not happen.
Shivam Dubey’s two overs spoiled India’s big victory. Dubey gave away 46 runs in these two overs. He also bowled 2 no-balls and 4 wides. He gave 26 runs in his first over and 20 runs in the second. With this, a shameful record was also added to Dubey’s name. He has become the bowler who gave the most runs in the first two overs of the World Cup match.
One decision of captain Suryakumar also proved costly for the team. Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya had one over each left, yet the last over was given to Shivam Dubey. However, in this over, thanks to a brilliant catch by Sanju Samson, Dubey definitely got a wicket, but he gave away 20 runs. Ryan Bennett’s brilliant batting took Zimbabwe’s score to 184 and India’s chance to overtake West Indies in NRR slipped away.
After this 72-run win, India’s net run rate is still -0.100 with one win in two matches. At the same time, despite losing badly to South Africa, West Indies’ net run rate is +1.791.
Now India’s next and last match will be against West Indies on Sunday. This match is like a quarter final for both the teams. Whichever team wins, it will reach the semi-finals by finishing second after South Africa. But there is a catch here. If the match is canceled due to rain or any other reason and both the teams get one point each, then West Indies will reach the semi-finals on the basis of better net run rate.