India set up semis with England

Melbourne: In front of a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground, Suryakumar Yadav enthralled everyone with his trademark 360-degree style of play to set up India's 71-run win over Zimbabwe in their final Group 2 match in the Men's T20 World Cup on Sunday.

Before the start of the last five overs, India were in search of acceleration to get a mammoth total as Zimbabwe took three quick wickets in 11 balls. Suryakumar arrived and changed the tempo of the match yet again with the absolutely insane striking of the ball.

He smacked six fours and four sixes in a death overs batting masterclass at a strike rate of 244 to end up with 61 not out off just 25 balls. His belligerent knock, laced with his trademark scoops and mesmerizing lofted shots, meant India got 79 runs in the last five overs.

India skipper Rohit Sharma heaped praise on Yadav for producing astonishing knocks to propel the side toward a position of strength. "What SKY (Surya Kumar Yadav) is doing for the team is remarkable, just coming out there, playing that way, taking the pressure off the others. We know his ability, and it allows the guy at the other end to take his time."

"The dugout can really be at ease when he bats, and he's shown a lot of composure when he's batted. We expected this from him, and he's gone from strength to strength," said Rohit in the post-match presentation ceremony.

While being pleased with India topping Group 2 in a comprehensive performance, they will now be up against England in the second semifinal of the tournament at Adelaide Oval on Thursday. Rohit felt adjusting to conditions at the venue, where India won by five runs in a tense match against Bangladesh, will be the key.

"The key for us will be to adjust quickly to the conditions. We have played a game there, but we need to adjust quickly. England are a good team, and it will be a great contest. We should take pride in qualifying, firstly, and if we play that semifinal well, we have another big game as well."

"It's about understanding the lines and lengths -- the square boundaries are shorter -- and executing well. A very good all-round performance, something we were looking for. We had qualified, but we wanted to come out and play the way we wanted to play, which we achieved."

Rohit signed off by expressing gratitude to the fans for coming out in support of the team in large numbers on match day. "The fans have been brilliant all this while, almost everywhere we have gone we've got a full house, and we expect the same in the semifinals as well. On behalf of the team, I'd really like to thank them." (IANS)

Brief scores: India 186/5 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 61 not out, KL Rahul 51; Sean Williams 2-9, Sikandar Raza 1-18) beat Zimbabwe (Ryan Burl 35, Sikandar Raza 34; Ravichandran Ashwin 3-22, Mohammed Shami 2-14) by 71 runs