Zimbabwe deal another World Cup shock but SKY the limit for India

Zimbabwe's players celebrate a famous win

Surprises kept coming at the Twenty20 World Cup after Zimbabwe followed Ireland’s shock win over England by stunning Pakistan by one run in a nail-biting finale on Thursday.

There was no such trouble however for South Africa and India, who underlined their title credentials with ruthless wins.

Pakistan were expected to do likewise against Zimbabwe, who came through the first round in Australia to take their place in the Super 12 stage and are ranked 11th by the ICC.
Pakistan are ranked fourth in the world.

But Zimbabwe refused to read the script in a thriller in Perth, even after Pakistan restricted them to what seemed a below-par 130-8.

Zimbabwe’s bowlers, led by Pakistan-born Sikandar Raza with figures of 3-25, choked Pakistan to 129-8.

In the first match of a triple-header on Thursday, Rilee Rossouw struck the first century of this year’s World Cup in South Africa’s dominant 104-run win over Bangladesh.
After the frustrating washout against Zimbabwe, the big win kickstarted South Africa’s title charge and showed why they are regarded as dark horses Down Under.
The opening batsman became a Kolpak player in English county cricket, rupturing ties with South Africa, before returning in July.

Suryakumar Yadav helped India to a match winning total

India are in pole position at the top of the group with two wins from two after they dismissed a spirited Netherlands with ominous ease in front of 36,000 boisterous fans in Sydney.
Superstar batsman Virat Kohli, fresh from his last-ball heroics on Sunday against arch-rivals Pakistan, smashed a second successive half-century in a 56-run win.
Kohli was 62 not out off 44 balls. 

Skipper Rohit Sharma (53 off 39) and red-hot Suryakumar Yadav (51 off 25) also punished the Dutch bowlers.
Yadav, better known as “SKY”, is arguably the world’s best T20 batsman on current form.

(AFP)

Chief scores:
Zimbabwe beat Pakistan by 1 run 
Zimbabwe 130 for 8 in 20 overs (S. Williams 31, M. Wasim 4 for 24, S. Khan 3/23)
Paksitan 129 for 8 in 20 overs (S. Masood 44, M. Nawaz 22, S. Raza 3/25)
India beat Netherlands by 56 runs 
India 179 for 2 in 20 overs (V. Kohli 62 not out, R. Sharma 53, S, Yadav 51 not out; P. van Meekeren 1 for 32)
Netherlands 123 for 9 in 20 overs (T. Pringle 20, C. Ackermann 17, S. Ahman 16 not out; B. Kumar 2 for 9, A. Patel 2 for 18)
South Africa beat Bangladesh by 104 runs
South Africa 205 for 5 in 20 overs (R. Rossouw 109, Q. de Kock 63; S. Al Hasan 2 for 33)
Bangladesh 101 all out in 16.3 overs (L. Das 34; A. Nortje 4 for 10)