Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
THE permutations and chances of Zimbabwe progressing through to the ICC T20 World Cup semi-finals do not make for pleasant reading.
The Chevrons entered the Super Eight stage of the competition as the unlikeliest of unlikely underdogs.
However, a couple of costly fielding errors and a tame batting effort during their 107-run defeat to West Indies on Monday has left Zimbabwe with a lot of catching up to do.
And yes, destiny is no longer in their own hands. Zimbabwe will take to the field this afternoon against tournament co-hosts India at Ma Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, knowing nothing short of victory will keep their hopes of progressing alive.
The Chevrons’ best-case scenario is to win both their remaining fixtures and hope West Indies does the same.
This would mean that both Zimbabwe and West Indies qualify without the Net Run Rate coming into play.
Victories against India and South Africa are tall orders, especially when you also take into account that the former also needs the win and also win big against Zimbabwe today.
For Chevrons coach, Justin Sammons, the changes in venue were among the major obstacles his charges faced against West Indies, and it didn’t help matters that they did not adapt well to the situation on the day.
However, the one thing that Zimbabwe have going for them is that the boundaries at Chidambaram Stadium are way bigger than the ones they came up against at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
“Certainly, I think, you know, from a boundary size point of view, I think it was probably one of the biggest differences,” said Sammons.
“I think a lot of those mis-hits will go for six at the smaller fields but they would be out at the bigger ones like we had in Sri Lanka.
“For Zimbabwe, a lot of the cricket, over the last couple of years, has been played in Harare and Harare Sports Club is a really big, big ground.
“So, again, it’s good learning at the end of the day.
“And, we take those lessons and we move on,” he said.
Zimbabwe face India at their most vulnerable and most dangerous.
The defending champions also suffered a big loss in their opening Super Eight fixture, which South Africa took by 76 runs.
And now, their chances of progressing hang by the thread too.
A possible four points will, however, be enough for India to go through to the semi-finals but they will need to win and win big their remaining fixtures against Zimbabwe today and then the West Indies.
They will also need South Africa to win their remaining two games for that to work in their favour.
Even if South Africa beat West Indies, in today’s early fixture, and lose to Zimbabwe, India will still be assured of a place in the last four without net run-rates (NRR) coming into play.
However, if South Africa lose to West Indies and beat Zimbabwe, then three teams — South Africa, West Indies and India — will be level on four points.
In that case, NRR will be the tie-breaker, and the outlook isn’t great for India, thanks to their heavy defeat to South Africa and West Indies’ thumping win over Zimbabwe. Sammons is aware of all these permutations and has urged his charges to resort to their processes and game plan.
After all, that is what brought them to the party in the first place.
“India are the number one team in the world and we know it’s going to be an extremely difficult challenge,” said Sammons.
“However, we are certainly going to give it our all and we are not going to leave anything out there on the park.
“You can’t control the results when you are playing against top quality teams like India, but we are certainly going to give it our best.
“The morale in the team is still very good, excellent, the guys are enjoying each other, sharing each other’s successes and failures,” he said.
As it pertains to the strategy going into the match, Sammons said he has been re-emphasising the lads doing what they have been doing well.
“If we are chasing a big score or we feel a big score is needed, we don’t actually need to change our process”, he said.
“We can still stay to our process and get the job done at the same time.”
Among the players to watch today will be the duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Brad Evans for India and Zimbabwe, respectively.
Chakravarthy and Evans are currently the number one and fifth-ranked T20 bowlers in the world.
Chakravarthy is Chennai homeboy and will be leading the charge for India while Evans is fresh off a career high 43 runs off during Zimbabwe’s 107-run defeat to the West Indies on Monday.
“We have got to look for small wins in games like the defeat against West Indies as this is our first time in a Super 8 stage,” said the Chevrons coach.
“No one really gave us a chance to be here and that was a great experience and great innings from Brad (Evans).
“I think he will gain huge confidence from that performance with the bat.
“He has worked really hard on his batting and hasn’t yet had a chance to sort of show what he’s got.
“I think it will also translate through to the rest of the team.
“If we bring our best, we have always got a chance.
“We just have to follow the same process that brought us here, which I said I don’t think we really did against the West Indies,” said Sammons.
