India needed a big win on Friday and the team pulled out all stops to defeat Scotland in the 2021 T20 World Cup match in Dubai.
After restricting the team to 85, Virat Kohli's men chased down the target in 6.3 overs to ensure they stay in contention for a spot in the semi-finals even as Scotland's fate was sealed earlier in the group stage.
After the match though, members of both the teams spent some time discussing the game as the Indian team visited the Scottish dressing room.
The team's official twitter handle posted a few pictures with the caption, 'Huge respect to Virat Kohli and co. for taking the time'.
After the match, Scotland skipper Kyle Coetzer was all praise of India during the post-match presentation, saying that they put up a show of high-class execution. He added that his team needed to go through days like this to improve further in the future.
"The experience is everything for our group of players and organisation. Today's result didn't go the way we wanted. It's very important for our guys to experience that and see the high class that was on show today from the Indian team. That was some high-class execution from India today. I am still extremely proud of the guys but we have got a lot of learning to do and we have to go through days like this to improve," said Coetzer in the post-match press conference.
Coetzer pointed out how India made good use of the conditions while bowling first, skittling Scotland for just 85 in 17.4 overs. "They showed how to use the surface and how to execute their yorkers. The spinners had variations and plenty of mystery about some of their bowlers. When you face guys like that for the very first time, which we did today, it was always going to be hard. We have a fantastic group of players and will go from strength to strength after this."
Scotland, who entered the Super 12 stage of the tournament for the first time, are already out of the race for the semi-finals. They will play their last match of Group 2 against table-toppers Pakistan on Sunday.
The 37-year-old highlighted how cricket in the country can build upon its success of entering the Super 12 stage in the UAE and Oman this year in all aspects. "I hope the years ahead are full of positive movement, not only for us but also in the game to keep growing it as much as possible. It's so exciting to see various teams growing from strength to strength. You look at Oman, how much they have developed in the last couple of years."
"For us at Cricket Scotland, it's brilliant to see how we have managed to see ourselves in Super 12 and qualifying for the next World Cup. There's plenty to look forward to. We can't be happy with just playing a few Super 12 games and going back to home and to our systems that we have there. We need to be brave and push that little bit further and we need support there."
(With inputs from IANS)
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