India crushes Zimbabwe to revive T20 World Cup hopes. Unbeaten South Africa advances to semifinals

CHENNAI, India (AP) — India posted the second-highest total in the history of the men’s T20 World Cup as its batters gave home fans a show of sixes in a 72-run win over Zimbabwe in the Super Eights on Thursday. South Africa beat West Indies by nine wickets to advance to the semifinals.

Hardik Pandya scored 50 not out off 23 balls, Tilak Varma smashed 44 not out off only 16 deliveries and Abhishek Sharma found form with a 30-ball 55 in defending champion India’s 256-4 in 20 overs — second only to Sri Lanka’s 260-6 against Kenya at the 2007 edition.

Zimbabwe reached 184-6 in its 20 overs with opener Brian Bennett ending on 97 not out with six sixes in his 59-ball innings.

India hit 17 sixes in all – its highest in a T20 World Cup innings — after Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bowl.

India’s win secured a place in the semifinals for South Africa after its dominant win over West Indies earlier Thursday in Ahmedabad, India.

A whirlwind 95-run opening partnership between captain Aiden Markram (82 not out) and Quinton de Kock (47) in eight overs made short work of South Africa’s chase. Ryan Rickelton added 45 not out and South Africa motored to 177-1 in 16.1 overs and stretched its unbeaten record in the tournament to six games, four of the wins in Ahmedabad.

West Indies put up 176-8 from 83-7. Pacers Romario Shepherd and Jason Holder batted their side to respectability. Shepherd (52 not out) and Holder (49) lifted West Indies with a remarkable 89-run stand for the eighth wicket. Shepherd notched his maiden T20 half-century.

Holder and Shepherd pushed the accelerator in the death overs. Holder smashed Marco Jansen for 23 runs in the 18th over before he was run out in the final over. Shepherd completed his half-century with an inside edge off the final ball of the innings but South Africa kept the score under-par by about 50 runs.

The Proteas play Zimbabwe in their last Super Eights game on Sunday in Delhi, when West Indies, which had been unbeaten at this edition, faces co-host India in Kolkata. The winner in Kolkata will advance with South Africa to the semifinals from Group 1.

India lights up Chennai sky

Sanju Samson made 24 off 15 balls to give Sharma some respite at the top. Sharma, the No. 1 ranked T20 batter, then regained his touch with four sixes on his way to a 26-ball 50 – his first in five games this tournament.

Sharma and Ishan Kishan (38) put on 72 off 42 balls. Suryakumar Yadav – dropped on eight – scored 33 off 13 balls.

Pandya and Varma lit up the night sky with eight sixes shared between them. India’s previous highest-ever men’s T20 World Cup score was 218-4 versus England in 2007.

Zimbabwe made 44 in the powerplay but was 73-2 at the halfway mark. The innings lost momentum when Arshdeep Singh (3-24) struck twice – Sikandar Raza was caught for 31, while Ryan Burl was lbw for a two-ball duck.

South Africa’s confident chase

Markram smashed seven boundaries and four sixes in his 82 not out off 46 balls. De Kock hit four sixes and four boundaries in a 24-ball 47. Rickelton maintained the express scoring with 45 not out off 28 balls as South Africa won with 3.5 overs to spare.

Earlier, in a frenetic powerplay, West Indies was down to 52-4. South Africa also dropped three catches in the first six overs.

Kagiso Rabada took 2-22 in four overs and Lungi Ngidi had 3-30, also in four overs.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket