Mumbai: Looking back at their opening Super Eights game against South Africa, India clearly made mistakes in various aspects from team combination to strategy. With their place in the ICC T20 World Cup on the line, the home team simply can’t afford any further misstep. Undoubtedly, India’s think tank tracked the West Indies versus Zimbabwe game at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday with great interest.
The two teams are India’s next opponents and the home side must beat them to have a chance of making the knockouts.
Given India’s struggles at the start, the period of play that interested coach Gautam Gambhir the most was West Indies’ new ball bowling.
It has become a no-brainer for all opposition teams to start with a spinner against India’s left-handed pair of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan. Abhishek scored three ducks in the first three games, Kishan was out for a duck against South Africa.
Seeing, West Indies’ spinner Akeal Hosein produce a brilliant three over spell in the powerplay would not have helped the home team’s confidence.
The left-arm spinner took the new ball and reduced Zimbabwe to 20/3 by picking up two wickets in the third over, finishing with three wickets for 28 runs.
“We all know powerplay bowling is difficult, you have two fielders out. But with that being said, it depends on the opposition and conditions. For me as a spinner, one thing I try to get out of my head is the fear of being hit for boundaries. It’s just about sticking to the plan and trying to get the batter to hit where you have your two fielders out,” Hosein said after the game.
About bowling in the grounds for the next two games, the West Indies spinner said adjusting to Eden Gardens, in terms of boundary size, will be similar to bowling at the Wankhede Stadium, but he expects more help for the spinners.
“I feel in Kolkata, the ball grips a little bit more, but again, Kolkata here is very small, it’s not a venue where you can just toss the ball up. It’s all about trying to make that adjustment and that assessment as quickly as possible. Ahmedabad is a bit bigger, but we haven’t played there yet (in the tournament). I’ve played in Ahmedabad a couple of years ago. It was 50-over cricket.
“So for us as a team, it’s about getting there and understanding the conditions, and see what it has to offer, and then make our adjustments and plans from there,” said Hosein.
While Suryakumar Yadav’s men prepare to take on Zimbabwe in Chennai, the outcome of the game between West Indies and South Africa in Ahmedabad is also of consequence for their chances.
The blockbuster in Ahmedabad will likely decide who tops Group 1 in the Super Eight stage, the winner will almost certainly clinch a spot in the final four.
West Indies’ big 107-run win has put India in a precarious position. The reigning champions need South Africa to defeat the West Indies to qualify for the knockouts, while also winning their two remaining Super Eights matches themselves.
A West Indies win will mean that even if India beats the Caribbean side in their last league game, there will be three sides on the same points in Group 1 (if India and South Africa beat Zimbabwe also). However, India’s heavy defeat to South Africa means they lag behind in the net run rate department.
A South Africa win over Windies will make it a winner-takes-all situation between India and West Indies.
Captain Shai Hope said their win gives them confidence but South Africa will have the advantage having been based in Ahmedabad while this is West Indies’ first game there. “I just believe the way we’ve been playing, it certainly gives us a lot of confidence. Yes, we’ve played well to this stage, but again, we’ve got another game in a few days and we’ve got to make sure we turn up on that day again.
“Great start, great confidence booster. But those games are gone. We’ve got to look ahead now. We’ve got South Africa next, and then India after. So we’ve got to keep playing our best cricket.”
With their line-up packed with left-handers, India can expect that off-spin of Roston Chase, left out against Zimbabwe, will be added to the spin combination of Hosein and Gudakesh Motie (who took 4/28). Captain Hope shouldered arms to the question on Chase’s addition for the India game but his wide grin said it all.
ZIMBABWE’S LEARNINGS
Nothing went right for Zimbabwe during their heavy 107-run defeat on Monday and a wounded India awaits them in Chennai on Thursday.
Zimbabwe head coach Justin Sammons is expecting a similar challenge against the India batters.
“We know the way India is going to come out and it’s going to be very similar to the way West Indies approached their innings. They’re (India) not going to hold back,” Sammons said after the match.
“There will be good learnings from that (West Indies) and how we deal with that, under pressure in the moment, how do we stay calm and just think on our feet and also just try and change things up a little bit, disrupt the rhythm of the batters,” he added.
In Chennai, Sammons felt the slightly bigger dimensions there compared to Wankhede Stadium could help his bowlers. The Zimbabwe spinners were taken to the cleaners by Shimron Hetmyer & Co. Hetmyer blasted 85 off 34 balls as the West Indies piled up 254/6, the second highest total in the history of the tournament.
Also, against West Indies, the coach said the bowling unit, was guilty of being “predictable”.
“…we can be a little bit smarter in that regard. At times we were a bit predictable, and that’s something we can improve on. Chennai will be a bit bigger (ground) and it probably will be a little bit more at ease in that aspect there.”
