Defending champions India thrashed Zimbabwe by 72 runs in their Super Eights T20 World Cup match on Thursday, a result that guaranteed South Africa a place in the semi-finals.

India posted a mammoth 256-4 and then restricted Zimbabwe to 184-6 in Chennai to make their clash with West Indies in Kolkata on Sunday a winner-takes-all decider for the last semi-final berth.

South Africa hammered the West Indies by nine wickets earlier in Ahmedabad.

At Chennai’s MA Chidambaram stadium, opener Abhishek Sharma blasted 55 and Hardik Pandya an unbeaten 50 as India piled up the second highest total in the history of the tournament after being invited to bat first.

“I think we wanted to leave everything behind. We didn’t think too much about what we did in the league stage or in the last game in Ahmedabad,” said India captain Suryakumar Yadav.

“With contributions from the top order right down to number seven, I think there was hardly anything missing in our performance.

He said they had not thought about what is now a knockout match against the West Indies on Sunday.

“Once we reach Kolkata, we’ll sit down and plan properly for that game,” Suryakumar said.

“For now, it’s about taking a day off, travelling, and relaxing.”

Zimbabwe, who stunned Australia and Sri Lanka to reach the Super Eights, were never in the chase despite a brisk start as the asking rate kept rising.

Opener Brian Bennett was not out 97, the highest individual score by a Zimbabwean in T20 World Cup history, as his side exited the semi-final reckoning with a game still to play.

India’s left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh took 3-24 from his four overs.

‘Willing to improve’

“We are also a work in progress,” said Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza.

“We have a lot of youngsters, most of them are playing their first World Cup, first time ever in India for us.

“Not that I want to use that as an excuse, but certainly the lessons from the last game, from a batting point of view, I thought we took them really well.

“And you can see how quickly these boys are willing to improve and they showed up today.”

Zimbabwe’s bowlers conceded 510 runs in 40 overs in two Super Eights matches after West Indies posted 254-6 against the tournament’s surprise packages on Monday.

Raza won the toss and opted to field for the second match running, and again saw his bowlers flogged to all parts.

Left-handed Abhishek, who had struggled with three ducks in four innings in this tournament, hit four fours and four sixes to return to form.

Pandya and left-handed Tilak Varma, who hit a 16-ball 44, put on an unbeaten stand of 84 at the end, but India came up just short of the T20 World Cup record score of 260-6 made by Sri Lanka against Kenya in 2007.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson returned to the team to break the left-handed opening combination of Abhishek and Ishan Kishan and handed India a flying start.

Samson fell for 24 off Blessing Muzarabani but Abhishek kept up the charge, reaching his fifty off 26 balls in a 72-run stand with Kishan (38).

Abhishek fell to Tinotenda Maposa, caught at long-on, but his knock laid the platform for a big total. Skipper Suryakumar hit 33 off 13 balls.

Pandya finished with a flourish with two sixes off Brad Evans to get to 50 on the final ball of the innings.