Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya scored half-centuries as defending T20 World Cup champions India registered a 93-run win over Namibia.

93 Run ⁠ Plastering

India posted a batting total of 209-9 on Thursday after opener Ishan Kishan (61) and middle-order batsman Hardik Pandya (52) scored quick half-centuries.

They returned to action and beat Namibia by 116 runs in 18.2 overs to register their second consecutive win and top the group for their net run rate, which is also four points ahead of Pakistan in two games.

“It’s not an easy wicket to bat on. The way Ishan and Sanju (Samson) started, it didn’t look like it, but it was a difficult wicket.”

Abhishek Sharma, the current number one T20 batsman, is still recovering from a stomach infection and the out-of-form Samson got another chance to impress once India got into the batting order.

To make matters worse for Namibia, Louren Steenkamp dropped Tilak Varma (No. 25) when the batsmen reached No. 19.

Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus (4-20) ended Kishan’s 24-ball blitz as they managed to put the brakes on after the departures of Varma and Suryakumar (12).

Pandya hit four sixes and Shivam Dube (23) played well in the final moments to help India cross the 200-run mark.

Steenkamp (29) and Jan Frylinck (22) got off to a positive start but Namibia kept losing wickets and fell out of contention.

For India, a fit-again Jasprit Bumrah bowled four brilliant deliveries to capture the wicket of Ruben Trumpelmann with his trademark yorker.

Varun Chakravarthy (3-7) was the choice of Indian bowlers while spinner Axar Patel and man of the match Pandya took two wickets each.

“After the powerplay, we thought the dew might make the bowling difficult and we had a chance. But Varun’s spell broke our chase,” Erasmus said.