India reached the T20 World Cup semi-finals with a five-wicket win over West Indies in the decisive Super Eights match on Sunday as Sanju Samson's unbeaten 97 helped them chase down the target of 196 with four balls to spare.
Defending champions India, who will be playing their third consecutive semi-final, will take on England in Mumbai on Thursday, a day after South Africa take on New Zealand in the first semi-final.
“This means the whole world to me. From the day I started playing, started dreaming of playing for the country, I think this is the day I've been waiting for,” said player of the match Samson, whose 50-ball innings included four sixes and 12 fours.
Electing to bat first, the West Indies openers cautiously scored 45 runs in the powerplay when Abhishek Sharma dropped Roston Chase at cover. Shai Hope (32) failed to test Varun Chakraborty's googly and was bowled in the ninth over.
Shimron Hetmyer made 27 in quick succession with three runs but was caught behind by Jasprit Bumrah (2-36), before dismissing Chase (40) two balls later, with Suryakumar Yadav diving at a difficult angle to take the catch in the air.
When Sherfane Rutherford's wicket fell in the 15th over, West Indies' score was 4-119, but Rovman Powell regained the momentum by hitting two sixes and a four off Arshdeep Singh and scored 24 runs in the next over.
Powell (34) and Jason Holder (37) put on a quickfire 76-run partnership for the fifth wicket to take the score to 195-4, which is more than the highest successful run chase in a T20 International at Eden Gardens, achieved by India in 2022 when West Indies set a target of 158 runs.
In reply, India lost opener Sharma early to spinner Akeal Hosein, who replaced West Indies opener Brandon King. Ishan Kishan became Holder's victim after nine balls, taking his score to 2-41.
With the required run rate in double digits, Samson kept the runs flowing and hit three sixes and four fours to complete his half-century in 28 balls.
India ignored the loss of skipper Suryakumar (18) as Tilak Verma hit three consecutive fours off Shamar Joseph and stopped the chase at long-on to move within 60 runs of victory with six overs remaining.
Verma (27) and Hardik Pandya (17) fell as the game approached a nervy end, before Shivam Dubey hit two quick fours off Joseph, leaving India needing just seven runs from the last over to complete their most successful run chase of the tournament.
Samson hit a six over Romario Shepherd over square leg and a boundary over mid-on to score the winning runs, becoming the highest individual score by an Indian in a chase in the T20 World Cup, and surpassing Virat Kohli's stand of 82 against Australia and Pakistan.
Suryakumar said of Samson, “All his hard work, what he was doing behind the doors when he was not playing, has paid off at the right time.”
South Africa wins, Zimbabwe captain wins player of the match honor in the losing team
South Africa defeated Zimbabwe by five wickets in the Super Eights to maintain their unbeaten run and book a place in the semi-finals against New Zealand.
Sikandar Raza was the star with bat and ball in the losing effort against South Africa. (AP: Manish Swarup)
The 2024 runners-up chased down the target of 154 with 13 balls remaining on Sunday and remain the only unbeaten team in this year's 20-team tournament.
Having already qualified for the semi-finals, South Africa rested fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen and spinner Keshav Maharaj and still restricted Zimbabwe to 7-153 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza scored 73 and claimed 3-29, but even his all-round talent was not enough to stop the South African juggernaut.
“It feels good to win,” South Africa captain Aiden Markram said.
“When you change the team a bit it can be quite difficult.
“Obviously with the bat, I would have liked it to be more clinical, but maybe that's not the worst thing that the middle order was put under a bit of pressure and he was successful.”
South Africa opened with the left-arm spin of George Linde after Raza decided to bat first after winning the toss.
Zimbabwe's top order was struggling but Raza responded brilliantly and completed his half-century in 29 balls.
Raza hit four sixes and eight fours in his 43-ball innings before becoming the victim of Quena Mafaka.
Clive Madande scored an unbeaten 26 down the order but Zimbabwe still fell below normal.
However, Raza did not give up and led Zimbabwe's fight with the ball.
Armed with the new ball, the off-spinner dispelled South Africa of any complacency by dismissing Quinton de Kock and rival captain Markram in consecutive overs.
Ryan Rickelton hit four sixes in 31 runs but Zimbabwe attacked just when the partnership was about to blossom.
Similarly, Dewald Brewis (42) threatened to walk away, but Raza kept Zimbabwe in the contest by dismissing the batsman.
Tristan Stubbs (21) and Linde (30) made an unbroken partnership of 53 runs to lead South Africa to victory.
“I never got a man of the match (award) after losing a game, but I think I can keep my head held high,” Raza said.
“We suffered a few defeats in the last two matches but with every defeat there was a valuable lesson.
“We've improved in every game we've played. At least now we have a sense of what we need to do to be a mid-table team.”
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