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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup is set to come to an end tomorrow with a difficult task against cricket powerhouses India at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, in Australia.
The Chevrons, who qualified for the Super 12 for the first time this year, ruined their chances of progressing to the semi-finals after suffering defeats to Bangladesh and the Netherlands in their last two outings.
They had made a promising start after beating giants Pakistan and getting a point in the rained out affair with neighbours South Africa.
Zimbabwe, however, experienced their lowest point at the tournament on Wednesday when they sunk to an unlikely five-wicket defeat to the Netherlands, which effectively ruled them out of contention for a top two finish.
The Chevrons have had to go back to the drawing board and would need to improve their batting vastly in their last group match against the world number one T20I nation.
Head coach Dave Houghton admitted their “fragile” batting unit let them down through the course of the tournament as they had to rely mostly on Sikandar Raza for runs.
Houghton would want to see the batting unit play with more of a positive intent in the match against India, like they have been doing in the run up to the World Cup jamboree.
“We’ve been quite fragile with our batting throughout this tournament,” Houghton said after the defeat to the Netherlands.
“I mean, we’ve been living on some runs from Sean Williams and Raza for the last short while and one or two contributions from Wesley (Madhevere) and occasionally from Craig Ervine.
“So it has been difficult. We have to move people around to see if we can adjust the order a bit to make life a little bit easier so hopefully, we get bigger contributions from everyone.
“As I said, our batting has been brittle throughout this tournament. So we’ve done incredibly well to get where we’ve got to,” said Houghton.
Zimbabwe need to bring their best in the game against India, if they cherish any hopes of causing another upset.
They did it before when they claimed a famous one run win over Pakistan in the second game of the Super 12 campaign at the Optus Stadium in Perth last week.
Zimbabwe’s top order in particular has been the most problematic. Houghton has been tinkering with his team in a bid to improve the returns from his batsmen, but some even tougher decisions await him for tomorrow.
Wicketkeeper/batsman Regis Chakabva has been deserted by form at this tournament and that could be affecting his psyche as evidenced by the chain errors with both bat and glove.
Zimbabwe were left to rue the missed opportunities against Bangladesh and Pakistan. They lost to the Bangladeshis by three runs and then slumped to a five-wicket defeat to the Netherlands, in two must-in games to keep their chances alive.
Members of the Zimbabwe national cricket team must have been cursing themselves after the group was blown wide open following Pakistan’s win over South Africa on Wednesday.
The Chevrons could have been part of the permutations going into the final group matches, had they collected maximum points either against Bangladesh or the Netherlands.
As it stands, India, who lead the group with six points remain the firm favourites to proceed to the semi-finals.
But because of the tricky permutations, their game against Zimbabwe is a must-win to secure them the place.
In the event they lose to Zimbabwe, and both South Africa and Pakistan win their final group matches, the Indians could be knocked out.
So Zimbabwe should expect a strong performance from the 2007 champions.
India have good memories at the MCG, the venue of their first match in the Super 12 campaign when they upstaged bitter rivals Pakistan to set the tone for their campaign.
Zimbabwe and India have played T20I games seven times in the past with the Chevrons winning twice while losing five times. Dave Houghton’s men, though, have achieved their goal of playing in the Super 12 for the first time and are still hoping to “cause some damage” before they return home.
Group 2 fixtures:
Tomorrow: South Africa v Netherlands (Adelaide Oval), Pakistan v Bangladesh (Adelaide Oval), Zimbabwe v India (Melbourne Cricket Ground)
Online Reporter