T20 World Cup: Kohli-Shastri Era Ends With A Win, Tinged With Sadness

Dubai: India breezed past Namibia in the final group league match of the T20 World Cup here on Monday.

The 9-wicket win, with plenty to spare, brought no great joy to the Team India camp as it was only to be expected. If anything, there was a tinge of sadness. Not just because the cricketing heavyweights were already out of reckoning for a berth in the semifinals, but it was also a night to bid farewells.

After all, it was Ravi Shastri’s last game as Team India head coach, as well as the rest of the support staff’s. And also, Virat Kohli’s final game as India’s T20 International captain.

Neither wanted the end to be like this. Both would have loved to lay their hands on an elusive ICC World Cup trophy, but two below-par days in office at the start of the tournament put paid to their cherished dream.

India’s celebrated batting line-up failed to come to the party against Pakistan and New Zealand. They did fire against the lower-ranked Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia, but it was much too late.

On Monday, Ravindra Jadeja (3/16), Ravichandran Ashwin (3/20) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/19) restricted Namibia to 132 for 8. Openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul then struck classy half-centuries to help India achieve the target comfortably.

Scores: Namibia 132/8 in 20 overs. India 136/1 in 15.2 overs.

Result: India won by 9 wickets.