Dubai: India signed of their T20 World Cup campaign by thumping Namibia by nine wickets after they chased down the 133-run target, riding high on their bowlers first up and then batsmen including Rohit Sharma (56) and KL Rahul (54 n.o), who belted half-centuries here on Monday.
It was another clinical show by India under the leadership of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, who served their roles in their last match as captain and head coach, respectively.
Chasing a paltry target of 132 on a good batting track, openers Rohit and Rahul gave a belter of a start, with the Mumbaikar looking high on an aggressive approach from ball one. In his company, Rahul played the second fiddle, but lost an opportunity to dish out his signature strokes.
After Rohit's departure, Rahul steamed in and along with Suryakumar Yadav ensured India's win with 28 balls to spare.
Rohit survived in the very first over after Michael van Lingen dived forward to latch on to a pretty straightforward chance off Ruben Trumpleman. Not only did he put it down but also let it go to the fine leg fence.
The Mumbai Indians captain lived on the edge as he faced 15 balls in the first three overs for 25 runs, in which he belted three fours, a six and was lucky to have been dropped twice. However, he got to his second 50 of the tournament in 31 balls.
Jan Frylinck broke the opening partnership after Rohit fell for 56. Thereafter, Rahul saw India through with another half-century.
Earlier, riding high on Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja's bowling performance, India restricted Namibia at 132 for 8.
Jadeja and Ashwin ended with figures of 3 for 16 and 3 for 20, respectively. Also Jasprit Bumrah picked two wickets after conceding 19 runs in 4 overs.
Namibia started their innings well, but struggled to negotiate quality spin bowling after losing opener van Lingen (14).
Stephen Baard (21) and Lingen unleashed some shots early on to take the total to 33 for no loss, but India's premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah broke the stand and then the spinners chipped in.
Jadeja and Ashwin spun a web around Namibian batsmen as the tweakers shared six wickets between them.
David Wiese (26), Jan Frylinck (15 n.o) and Ruben Trumpelmann (13 n.o), for Namibia, provided the late burst that brought some respectability to the total.
Kohli won his second consecutive toss, but today it hardly mattered much as India were already out of the tournament.
Opting to chase, Kohli made one change and brought in Rahul Chahar in place of Varun Chakravarthy.
As a mark of respect, India took the field wearing black armbands to honour Tarak Singh, a much-loved coach in Delhi, who had groomed Rishabh Pant, Ashish Nehra, Aakash Chopra and Shikhar Dhawan.
In the fifth over, India got their first wicket off Jasprit Bumrah's bouncer to Michael van Lingen caught at midoff. The Indian pacer surprised the Namibian opener with a bouncer after bowling a flurry of yorkers.
Jadeja took the second wicket of Craig Williams (0) stumped to leave Namibia at 34 for 2. Thereafter, Jadeja and Ashwin kept striking in tandem.
The Chennai lad tossed up a slow one to Jan Nicol Loftie Eaton (5), who edged the ball to first slip to Rohit. Ashwin purchased yet another wicket by sending back Namibian skipper Erasmus (12) caught behind by Rishabh Pant.
Rahul Chahar who came into the side in place of mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and bowled in the only T20 WC match, ended up with figures of zero for 30 in his stipulated 4 overs.
Jadeja went past Hardik Pandya and became India's fifth-highest wicket-taker in the format after he picked up his 46th T20I wicket, which included the three he took today.
At the end of 16 overs, Namibia were 95 for 7 after Ashwin disturbed Zane Green's top of the middle stump as he tried to play inside the line that held the line against the angle. (UNI)