5 best Indian bowling performances in World T20s

India are clear favourites for the upcoming ICC World T20 2016While India as a cricketing nation have traditionally been known for their batting prowess, many a time it has been their bowling that has saved the day for the team.The Asia Cup 2016 is a prime example of that, where the Indian bowlers made full use of the helpful conditions on offer and bamboozled the opposition with both pace and spin bowling.Over the years, there have been several such instances when the bowlers have risen to the occasion after the batsmen failed to do their part or have restricted the opposition early in the innings to make it easy for the batsmen to chase.Many of these performances have come during the World T20s, and keeping in mind the next edition of the marquee tournament set to begin in four days in India, let’s have a look at the 5 best Indian bowling performances from the previous editions of the T20 World Cup.

#5 Ravichandran Ashwin: 3/22 (4) vs South Africa, 2014 World T20 semi-final

Ashwin dismissed three of South Africa’s best batsmen in the all-important semi-final of the 2014 World T20

In the 2014 World T20 held in Bangladesh, India had looked invincible throughout the league stages. But unlike their semi-final opponents, South Africa, they hadn’t quite tasted defeat in the knockouts of ICC tournaments on a regular basis.

Ravichandran Ashwin made sure that the Proteas’ torrid run when it comes to knockouts in world tournaments continued as he bamboozled their top batsmen to stop the SA run-fest at 172, whereas it had once looked like crossing 200.

Ashwin perhaps bowled the ball of the tournament to dismiss Hashim Amla, a carrom-ball that pitched outside leg and turned prodigiously to knock over the off-stump, leaving little time for one of the world’s best batsmen to react.

He then removed Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers at crucial junctures of the match to interrupt the momentum that the Proteas had created throughout their innings.

India, helped by a 44-ball 72 by Virat Kohli, cruised home in the end with 6 wickets in hand and 5 balls to spare.