SPORTS SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 2014 Chigumbura fires India maintain WCup Zimbabwe to win record, beat Pakistan SYLHET: Allrounder Elton Chigumbura struck a fiery half- century to help Zimbabwe achieve a five- win over in Sylhet yesterday, keeping their MIRPUR: India maintained their hopes of reaching the next round alive. Chigumbura impeccable World Cup record against smashed three sixes and six boundaries in his 21-ball 53 not Pakistan after Virat Kohli’s fluent 36 out to lift Zimbabwe from a struggling 34-4 and surpass a powered them to a seven- modest 117-run target in 13.4 overs. The win also lifted wicket victory against the arch-rivals Zimbabwe’s net run-rate over Ireland who face the in a group two super 10 stage match Netherlands in the crucial match to decide which team of the World Twenty20 yesterday. Put qualifies for the Super-10 stage from Group B. into bat, Pakistan did not get the fly- Bangladesh qualified for the Super-10 from Group A on ing start they were looking for and Thursday. Chigumbura added a match-winning 55 for the could not mount a late assault either sixth wicket with Timycen Maruma who made 22 not out. against India’s disciplined bowlers Before that Zimbabwe were jolted by left-arm paceman who restricted them to 130-7 at the Manjula Guruge (2-18) who dismissed Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. (two) and Sean Williams (nought) in successive overs. India made a strong, if not spec- Zimbabwe’s best batsman skipper Brendan Taylor also tacular, start to their chase with their managed just 15. Taylor praised his team, especially openers adding 54 runs in eight overs Chigumbura. “It was nice to see the guys coming out and before Shikhar Dhawan (30) fell to playing with freedom. We were a bit more clinical today, to trigger a mini-collapse. even if we did lose a couple of early but Elton was Rohit Sharma (24) dragged a Saeed the guy who did it for us,” he said. Ajmal on to his stumps while UAE showed disappointment Bilawal Bhatti rearranged Yuvraj after their third loss of the tournament. “We have to work Singh’s stumps as India slumped to on our fitness and hopefully next time around we go better 65-3 in the 11th over. Kohli displayed SCOREBOARD than this,” said Khan. The UAE owed their total to a 58-run the kind of form that has made him third wicket stand between Khan (26) and Swapnil Patil (30) the mainstay of Indian , play- DHAKA: Scoreboard of the World Twenty20 Super-10 round group two match between before left-arm spinner Williams took a career best 3-15 in ing with characteristic ease and grace India and Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka yesterday: four overs. The UAE lost their way before a ninth wicket to add 66 runs with Suresh Raina (35 stand of 27 between Shadeep Silva (13 not out) and not out) to win the match with nine Pakistan: (w2), Shami 4-0-31-1, Mishra 4-1-22-2, Kamran Shahzad (21) lifted them to 116-9 in their 20 overs. balls to spare and prolong India’s Kamran Akmal run out 8 Jadeja 4-0-18-1 (w1), Yuvraj 1-0-13-0. Sikander Raza (2-15) and (2-21) were also unbeaten record against Pakistan in st Dhoni b Mishra 22 India: among the wicket takers for Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe have 20-over and 50-over World Cups. c Kumar b Jadeja 15 R. Sharma b Ajmal 24 now two wins out of three games while Ireland have two Wary of the dew factor and confi- c Raina b Shami 33 S. Dhawan c Ajmal b Gul 30 wins out of two and the Netherlands one win out of two dent of his team’s ability to chase c Raina b Mishra 18 V. Kohli not out 36 matches. under floodlights, India captain c Raina b Kumar 8 Y. Singh b Bhatti 1 Mahendra Singh Dhoni earlier asked Sohaib Maqsood run out 21 S. Raina not out 35 Netherlands oust Ireland Pakistan to bat first and opened with Bilawal Bhatti not out 0 Extras: (w5) 5 In another development, The Netherlands smashed the off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Extras: (lb2, w3) 5 Total (for three wickets, 18.3 overs) 131 record for most sixes in an innings on their way to upsetting Kamran Akmal warmed up with a Total (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 130 Fall of wickets: 1-54 (Dhawan), 2-64 Ireland in Sylhet yesterday, romping into the Super-10 stages couple of boundaries before running Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Kamran Akmal), 2-44 (Sharma), 3-65 (Yuvraj). in the World Twenty20. Wesley Barresi hit Tim Murtagh over himself out in the second over follow- (Hafeez), 3-47 (Shehzad), 4-97 (Malik), 5- Bowling: Hafeez 3-0-14-0, Junaid 3-0-23-0, mid-wicket for the 19th six of the innings to seal an emphatic ing a comical mix-up with Ahmed 103 (Umar Akmal), 6-114 (Afridi), 7-130 Ajmal 4-0-18-1, Gul 3.3-0-35-1 (w3), Afridi six wicket win as the Netherlands chased down a daunting Shehzad. Shehzad featured in anoth- (Maqsood). 3-0-24-0 (w2), Bhatti 2-0-17-1, 190-run target in just 13.5 overs. Their rampaging victory er confusion in the very next delivery Bowling: Ashwin 4-0-23-0, Kumar 3-0-21-1 India won by seven wickets. means the Netherlands qualify for the Super-10 from Group but was fortunate as Dhoni’s direct B at the expense of more fancied Zimbabwe and Ireland. throw missed stumps as the batsman They join Group One in the next round. hurried back abandoning his pursuit (15) could not make the most of the reprieve Akmal (33) added 50 runs with Shoaib Malik (18) In all 30 sixes were hit in the match beating the previous for a non-existent single. and fell to Ravindra Jadeja’s third delivery after but fell to Mishra just when he looked set for a record of 24 set by New Zealand and India at Christchurch Hafeez also had his share of luck Bhuvaneshwar Kumar ran from deep cover to late assault to push the score. Much depended in 2009. Australia previously held the record for most sixes as Yuvraj, usually a safe catcher, take a low, diving catch. Shehzad (22) joined on Shahid Afridi when he walked in but the all- in a Twenty20 innings with 18, smashed against England at dropped him at deep midwicket off him in the pavilion in the next over, having rounder fell for eight as Raina took a diving catch Southampton last year. The Netherlands needed to notch Mohammad Shami when the charged out only to be completely foxed by leg- in the deep to snuff out Pakistan’s hopes of a late the target in 14.2 overs and they owed their exhilarating Pakistan captain was on five. Hafeez spinner Amit Mishra’s prodigious turn. Umar surge. — Reuters chase to a fiery 23-ball 63 by opener Stephan Myburgh, 15- ball 45 by and an unbeaten 22-ball 40 by Barresi. The defeat was a heartbreak for Ireland who beat Zimbabwe in their opening match but they failed to stop the rampaging Dutch led by Myburgh. Myburgh was in a punishing mood as he smashed three sixes in off-spinner Andy McBrine’s second over of the innings and then as many sixes and one boundary in one Alex Cusack’s over. He then brought up his second Twenty20 fifty in the event with a sweetly timed boundary off Tim Murtagh, off just 17 deliveries. The left-hander equalled the second fastest T20 fifty set by rival opener Paul Stirling, hit against Afghanistan in Dubai two years ago. The record for the fastest T20 fifty is held by India’s Yuvraj Singh who hit a 12-ball fifty against England in Durban in 2007. Myburgh, who smashed seven sixes and four bound- aries, finally holed out off George Dockrell at deep mid- wicket boundary with the total at 98. Cooper carried on from where Myburgh left off, hitting four sixes off Dockrell’s 11th over. Cooper’s innings had six sixes and a boundary. Winning captain Peter Borren felt for his rivals. “I am sad for Ireland,” said Borren. “They played very well for 2.5 games. It was Myburgh who set the scene. I am not really sure if I have seen cleaner hitting.” “We beat England in 2009 and that was a pretty special night. I will go back and sing the team song with the rest.” Ireland captain William Porterfield admitted his team fell short. — Agencies DHAKA: Pakistan’s batsman Umar Akmal (right) plays a shot as India’s captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni reacts during their ICC Twenty20 World Cup match in Dhaka, Bangladesh yesterday. — AP