T20 Blind World Cup 2017: India sails through to semi-finals, finish 2nd on the leaderboard

The T20 World Cup for the Blind has experienced exemplary displays of cricket skills and round 10 matches did not disappoint. High scores and high number of wickets have led matches to be thrilling and sometimes nail-biting.

India is on a roll, with its latest win against Nepal by 152 runs. India won the toss and elected to bat first and set up a score of 289 for Nepal to chase at the end of 20 overs. India lost only one wicket and Ajay Kumar Reddy and Durga Rao had to retire due to injury. But their respective scores of 109 and 53 helped India achieve the high target.

Venkateswara Rao D too contributed with his 82 not out. In the second innings, when Nepal had to bat, India restricted them to a score of 137 for the loss of five wickets. Ramesh Bahadur Baniya and Bikram Bahadur Rana tried to contribute in the chase with their respective scores of 35 and 25 not out, however, Ajay Kumar Reddy and Md Jafar Iqbal picked up one wicket each.

At the end of the match, Nepal was able to score only 137 thus leading India to a 152 run victory.

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Pakistan registered yet another win in the match against West Indies by 182 runs. Pakistan took to bat in the first innings, Muhammad Jamil and Riasat Khan garnered 100 and 94 runs respectively. This contributed to the score of 373 at the end of the first 20 overs.

Ganesh Mithra Singh and Anthony Fitzgerald Cummins picked up one wicket of Pakistan each. At the end of the first innings, Pakistan scored 373 for the loss four wickets. The second innings was thrilling with Pakistan completely smashing West Indies with their power.

Pakistan picked up nine wickets and managed to restrict them to a score of 191. Dennal Deboya Shim managed to score 59, however, Sajid Nawaz, Muhmmad Akram, Riasat Khan, Anees Javed, Mohsin Khan each picked up 1 wicket.

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In the match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by six wickets. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl first displaying smart strategy as they restricted the Bangladesh team to just 141 and also managed to pick up eight wickets. By the end of the first innings, Bangladesh had set a target of just 142 to chase for Sri Lanka, even though Mohammed Abdul Malek and Mahbubul Hasan Emon managed to score 32 (27) and 33 (34) respectively.

Dinesh Madhuwantha Herath Mudiyan Sekage picked up two wickets and allowed just 18 runs in the 4 overs that he bowled. In the second innings, Sri Lanka managed to chase the target in just 12 overs for the loss of four wickets. Kavidu Sahan Kumara Thoma Dura’s 56 not out helped contribute to the smashing win. Md Faisal managed to pick up 2 wickets. At the end of 12 overs, Sri Lanka was 142/4.

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The match between South Africa and New Zealand saw New Zealand succumb to a defeat by 6 wickets. South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl. New Zealand set the target of 202 runs with DM McCaskill and BD Wilson scoring 74(57) and 50(38) respectively.

Sonwabile Bidla and Henry Tiishetjo Masha of South Africa took 2 wickets each. In the second innings, Buhle Bhidla and David landry scored 104(58) and 69(47) respectively and easily chased the set target.

Peter Blueitt was on fire for England

In the match against Australia, England won by 58 runs. Australia won the toss and chose to bowl. England set a target of 251 runs for the loss of 3 wickets. Peter Blueitt and Justin Hollingsworth played well scoring 98(50) including 6 boundaries and 54(27) including 8 boundaries respectively.

In the second innings, Australia were restricted to 193/5 with Lindsay David Heaven scoring 57 (52), Steffan Francesco Nero and Stephen Leo Palmer scoring 46(31) and 47(29) respectively.

Following are the results:

India: 289/1 in 20 overs (Ajay Kumar Reddy 109, Durga Rao 53, Prem Kumar 2, Venkateswara Rao D 82 n.o., Md Jaffar Iqbal 8 n.o.) bt Nepal: 137/5 in 20 overs (Ramesh Bahadur Baniya 35, Badri Chaulagain 2, Sunil Subedi Chhetri 12, Padam Bahadur Badaila 28, Lok Bahadur Thapa 2, Bikram Bahadur Rana 25 n.o., Ajay Kumar Reddy 1-28, Md Igbal Jaffar 1-42)

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Pakistan: 373/4 in 20 overs (Muhammad Jamil 100, Riasat Khan 94, Anees Javed 10, Amir Ishfaq 24, Mati Ullah 27, Mohsin Khan 32 n.o., Muhammad Zafar 46 n.o., Ganesh Mithra Singh 1-59, Anthony Fitzgerald Cummins 1-44) bt West Indies: 191/9 in 20 overs (Kevin Andrew Douglas 9, Leroy Orin Phillips 36, Caneel Wayney Graham 13, Dennal Deboya Shim 59, Alvin Andre James 3, Jason Vivian Ricketts 4, Lo-Shane Omar Myles 13, Gregory Lee Stewart 15 n.o., Anthony Fitzgerald Cummins 4, Ricardo Elijah Manning 0, Ganesh Mithra Singh 2 n.o., Sajid Nawaz 1-55, Muhammad Akram 1-23, Riasat Khan 1-26, Anees Javed 1-24, Mohsin Khan 1-7)

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Bangladesh: 141/8 in 20 overs (Mohammed Abdul Malek 32, Md Mohsin Hosen Joy 19, Tanzjlur Rahman 0, Abdullah Zobir 2, Mahbubul Hasan Emon 33, Md Faisal 0, Md Resev Hasan 6, Md Mahnud Rashid 20 n.o., Md Abid Hasan Rabbi 0, Arif Ullah 1 n.o., Dinesh Madhuwantha Herath Mudiyan Sekage 2-18, Pathum Saman Kumara 1-14, Dimuthu Ravindra 1-14, Dinesh Nihara Mathugama 1-15) lost to Sri Lanka: 142/4 (Ruwan Wasantha 33, Rpriyantha Kumara Ja Sing Arachchige 6, Kavidu Sahan Kumara Thoma Dura 56 n.o., Chandana Deshapriya 0, Upul Sanjeewa Kankanam Gamage 2, Dimuthu Ravindra 32 n.o., Md Faisal 2-18)

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New Zealand: 202/7 in 20 overs (BD Wlison 50, DM McCaskill 74, Parveen Shankar 4, JH Dunn 20, Deacun Dunn 7 n.a., RIMTR Smith 2, B Fellows 1, MA Marsh 0) lost to South Africa: 203/1 in 16.5 overs (David Landry 69 n.a., Buhle Bhidla 104, Johan Schroeder 1 n.a.)

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England: 251/3 in 20.0 overs (Matthew James Page 12, Edward James Hossell 23, Peter Blueitt 98 n.a., Justin Hollingsworth 54, Nathaniel Gerrard Foy 40 n.a., Daniel James Pritchard 1-29) bt Australia: 193/5 in 20.0 overs (Lindsay David Heaven 57(52), Steffan Francesco Nero 46(31), Vaughan James Roles 2(4), Stephen Leo Palmer 47(29), Matthew James Cameron 7(7), Michael Constantine Zannis 2(2) n.o., Ned Adam Charles Brewer Maiga 1(2) n.o., Luke Jason Smith Sugg 1-36, Rory William Hossell 1-35)