India bows out of T20 World Cup beating Namibia by 9 wickets
India's Ravindra Jadeja interacts with captain Virat Kohli before bowling his next delivery during the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup match between India and Namibia in Dubai, UAE, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — India farewelled coach Ravi Shastri with a win after ending its Twenty20 World Cup campaign beating Namibia by nine wickets on Monday.
Out of semifinals contention, India made sure there was no slip-up with a complete performance: Limiting Namibia to 132-8 and overhauling that with 136-1 in 15.1 overs.
Spinners Ravindra Jadeja (3-16) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3-20) starred in the first half of the last Super 12 match, then Rohit Sharma — dropped by Michael van Lingen at short fine leg in the first over — and KL Rahul smashed half-centuries in the second half. Sharma made 56 and Rahul an unbeaten 54 off 36 balls.
The match was also the last for India bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach Ramakrishnan Sridhar, while Virat Kohli captained India for the 50th and last time in T20s.
"Big thank you to all those guys," Kohli said of the team staff. "They've done a tremendous job all these years … they were an extended part of our bigger family. They've contributed immensely to Indian cricket as well."
Tournament host India, the favorite for the title, finished third in its group after losing both of its opening games to eventual semifinalists Pakistan and New Zealand.
"I know we have not gone far in this World Cup, but we have had some good results in T20 and enjoyed playing together," Kohli said. "It's a game of margins … you talk about two overs of cricket with intent in the first two games and things could have been different. We were not brave enough."
Namibia had a campaign to be respected, and earned a solitary win against Scotland in the Super 12s.
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