Superior bowling unit helps India beat Namibia, but after losing 5 wickets in 11 balls

India's superior bowling unit delivered a 93-run win over a fearless Namibia in the T20 World Cup in Delhi on Thursday.

Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy removed three of Namibia's top five after the southern African nation found themselves in a position to dream, at 86/2 from 9 overs.

Had Namibia produced a mighty upset and somehow scaled the target of 210, India would have known that they had lost the battle, not with the ball, but with the bat earlier on. India had lost five wickets in 11 balls to settle for 209/9.

Nevertheless, that situation did not arise as Namibia were bundled out for 116. Chakravarthy's spin left Namibia in a spot of bother, going from 67/1 in 7 overs to 86/4 in the 10th. Axar Patel, the second spinner in the side, bagged the wickets of Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus (18) and Malan Kruger (5) to end their resistance.

Hardik Pandya's all-round brilliance played a vital part in the second win for Suryakumar Yadav's side. Pandya wrapped up the Namibia tail with 2/21 after smashing a 28-ball 52 earlier.

Erasmus had won the toss and chose to bowl, giving Sanju Samson a rare opportunity to test the conditions as an opener. Abhishek Sharma's absence due to illness gave the Kerala batter a chance to open the Indian innings alongside Ishan Kishan.

Sanju took a few balls to understand the conditions; he was beaten once. Then he got going, hitting a hat-trick of sixes and a four to fetch 22 runs. But an off-cutter from Shikongo deceived Sanju, who was early into his shot and gave an easy catch to Steenkamp at long on, ending his brief stay at 22.

Kishan, the in-form opener, stayed longer, hitting 61 off 24, with five sixes and six boundaries. Erasmus claimed 4/20 for the Namibians.

India's next match is the much-awaited tie against arch-rivals Pakistan in Colombo on February 15.

Brief scores: India 209/9 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 61, Hardik Pandya 52, Tilak Varma 25, Shivam Dube 23, Sanju Samson 22, Gerhard Erasmus 4/20) bt Namibia 116 in 18.2 overs (Louren Steenkamp 29, Varun Chakravarthy 3/7, Axar Patel 2/20, Hardik Pandya 2/21)