India vs Zimbabwe T20 World Cup: India defeats Zimbabwe by 71 runs

India ended up on the top of the table of Group 2, with a fantastic win against Zimbabwe by 71 runs. India and Pakistan are the two semi-finalists from Group 2 and will take on England and New Zealand.

India's batting today was top-notch with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli stabilizing the innings after the early dismissal of Rohit Sharma. Zimbabwe bowlers bounced back with three consecutive wickets of KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Rishabh Pant. But then, the sun was on the top again with Suryakumar Yadav playing a brilliant knock of 61 runs in just 25 balls and taking India's total to 186.

In bowling, Bhuvneshwar Kumar started with a bang with a wicket on the first ball, and similarly, Arshdeep, Shami, and Pandya also got wickets in their first overs. Zimbabwe lost the first five wickets very early in the game, with Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl attempting to build a partnership until Ravichandran Ashwin bowled Burl to break that partnership. Zimbabwe had a free fall after that and India won the match by 71 runs.

Scorecard:

India batting:

KL Rahul 51 (35)

Rohit Sharma 15 (13)

Virat Kohli 26 (25)

Suryakumar Yadav* 61 (25)

Rishabh Pant 3 (5)

Hardik Pandya 18 (18)

Axar Patel* 0 (0)

Zimbabwe bowling:

Richard Ngarava 1/44 (4)

Tendai Chatara 0/34 (4)

Blessing Muzarabani 1/50 (4)

Wellington Masakadza 0/12 (2)

Ryan Burl 0/14 (1)

Sikandar Raza 1/18 (3)

Sean Williams 2/9 (2)

Zimbabwe batting:

Wesley Madhevere 0 (1)

Craig Ervine 13 (15)

Regis Chakabava 0 (6)

Sean Williams 11 (18)

Sikandar Raza 34 (24)

Tony Munyonga 5 (4)

Ryan Burl 35 (22)

Wellington Masakadza 1 (7)

Richard Ngarava 1 (2)

Tendai Chatara 4 (4)

Blessing Muzarabani 0 (2)

India bowling:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/11 (3)

Arshdeep Singh 1/9 (2)

Mohammad Shami 2/14 (2)

Hardik Pandya 2/16 (3)

Ravichandran Aswin 3/22 (4)

Axar Patel 1/40 (3.2)

India ended up at to top of Group 2 table after beating Zimbabwe and will play against England in semi-finals

Hardik Pandya dismissed Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe at 111/9

Zimbabwe close to the edge, score 104/7 in 15.1 overs

Sikandar Raza 30 (19)

Wellington Masakadza * 1 (6)

Bowling:

Axar Patel* 0/36 (3)

Ravichandran Ashwin 1/20 (3)

Ashwin bowls out Ryan Burl and a stable partnership for Zimbabwe comes to an end

Sikandar Raza 18 (11)

Ryan Burl 26 (18)

Bowling:

Ravichandran Ashwin * 0/18 (2)

Axar Patel 0/15 (1)

Sikandar Raza 9 (7)

Ryan Burl 14 (10)

Bowling

Ravichandran Ashwin * 0/12 (1)

Hardik Pandya 1/12 (2)

Mohammad Shami takes out Tony Munyonga, Zimbabwe 37/5

Hardik Pandya takes out Craig Ervine

Sean Williams back to pavilion, Zimbabwe in trouble with a score of 28/3

Craig Ervine 11 (10)

Sean Williams 5 (13)

Bowling:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar* 1/11 (3)

Arshdeep Singh 1/9 (2)

Indian bowlers are on their best attack, Regis Chakabva is back to pavilion

Zimbabwe scores 2/2 in 1.4 overs

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has taken out Wesley Madhevere on first ball

Surya Kumar Yadav again scored a brilliant innings of 61 runs (not out)

India sets a target of 187 runs for Zimbabwe in 120 balls

Suryakumar Yadav 43 (21)

Hardik Pandya 18 (15)

Bowling

Blessing Muzarabani * 1/50 (4)

Tendai Chatara 0/34 (4)

Suryakumar Yadav 24 (14)

Hardik Pandya 9 (10)

Bowling

Richard Ngarava * 0/23 (3)

Blessing Muzarabani 1/37 (3)

Suryakumar Yadav 5 (6)

Hardik Pandya 3 (6)

Bowling

Wellington Masakadza 0/12 (2)

Sean Williams 2/9 (2)

Sean Williams takes out dangerous Rishabh Pant

India scores 101/4 in 13.3 overs

Sikandar Raza gives third shock to India, KL Rahul out 51 (35)

India scores 95/3 (12.2)

Virat Kohli is back to pavilion early today, scored 26 (25)

India scores 87/2 (11.5)

KL Rahul  41 (29)

Virat Kohli 22 (18)

Bowling

Tendai Chatara * 0/19 (3)

Sikandar Raza 0/3 (1)

KL Rahul 34 (24)

Virat Kohli 18 (11)

Bowling

Ryan Burl * 0/14 (1)

Wellington Masakadza 0/8 (1)

KL Rahul 18(15) 

Virat Kohli 6(4) 

Blessing Muzarabani 1/17

Virat Kohli* 4(2)

KL Rahul* 12(11) 

Tendai Chatara 0/7

First wicket for India as Rohit Sharma departs on 15 off 13 balls 

Rohit Sharma* 7(8)

Kl Rahul* 11(10)

Richard Ngarava 0/11

Rohit Sharma 5(5)

KL Rahul 1(7)

Tendai Chatara 0/6

Richard Ngarava starts with a maiden over for Zimbabwe

Rohit Sharma* 0(0)

KL Rahul* 0(0)

Richard Ngarava 0/0

Rishabh Pant will be playing instead of Dinesh Karthik. As per Rohit Sharma, he is the only guy who hasn't played a single game on this tour including the warm-up games, so he had to be given a game.

Wesley Madhevere, Craig Ervine(c), Regis Chakabva(w), Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Tony Munyonga, Ryan Burl, Tendai Chatara, Richard Ngarava, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami.

India have won the toss and opted to bat first.

Pakistan have defeated Bangladesh by five wickets and entered the semis, along with India. 

Virat Kohli needs 68 runs to become the first player to score 4,000 runs in T20 Internationals.

Only the first of the five World Cup games played in Melbourne so far was untouched by rain. The previous one, between England and Ireland, was shortened, and the previous three were washed out. Expect some assistance for seamers because the pitch will be fresh, but batters should enjoy the ball as it approaches the bat.

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Mohammad Shami.

Zimbabwe: Wesley Madhevere, Craig Ervine, Regis Chakabva, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba, Ryan Burl, Luke Jongwe, Richard Ngarava, Tendai Chatara, Blessing Muzarabani

In India, Star Sports will serve as the T20 World Cup's official broadcaster in 2022. It will broadcast live coverage of the IND vs ZIM game. Fans who have subscriptions to Disney+ Hotstar will be able to watch the matches live there. The toss will happen at 1 PM while the match will start at !:30 PM.

The weather is predicted to cause delays because it is likely to rain all day in Melbourne for this final Super 12s game. There is a 50% probability of rain in Melbourne's northern and northeastern areas, which are close to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), where the match will be played, according to forecasts by the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology. Thunderstorms have also been forecast by the Bureau for Melbourne's northeastern region in the late afternoon and evening. They might also disrupt the game, which is scheduled to begin at 7 o'clock local time.

The half-century Rohit Sharma scored against the Netherlands was shaky. KL Rahul scored 50 off 32 balls against Bangladesh. However, Indian openers have generally failed to offer the team strong beginnings. India has averaged 13 opening stands at a run rate of 4.27 throughout the course of four games. In the competition, only Pakistan and Namibia have had worse beginnings. The India openers will be put to the test once more by Zimbabwe's fast bowlers, especially if they bat first.

India have played six T20 matches against Zimbabwe so far and won four of those. When it comes to T20 matches, Zimbabwe surely have the ability to upset the group-leaders.

Zimbabwe has lost three of its past five games while India has lost two of their last five. India has only lost to South Africa in the tournament's four games, winning three of them. Only one of the four games played in the event was won by Zimbabwe, which sit at the bottom of the standings.