Online Reporter
Robson Sharuko
Metros Editor
ZIMBABWE versus India!
It sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Runs, wickets, no-balls, wides, caught behind, stumped, extra cover, cover drive, long on, long off, third man, leg byes, yorkers, fast bowling, leg spinning, you name it.
Cricket – the ultimate gentlemen’s game.
Three months ago, we played the Indians in the ICC T20 World Cup match and they beat us by 79 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
But, we have had our golden moments, too.
Two years ago, we shocked them by 13 runs in a T20I match at Harare Sports Club.
We then beat them in a ODI match at Centurion in South Africa in 1997.
Two years later, at the ICC Cricket World Cup, Henry Olonga took three wickets in the final over as we beat India by three wickets in Leicester.
England was also the setting for our first battle against India in the World Cup in 1983.
At 17/5, the Indians were on the ropes but Kapil Dev’s majestic unbeaten 175 powered the Asian giants to a 31-run win.
The Indians went on to win the World Cup.
Fast forward 43 years and you have Zimbabwe versus India, on English soil, once again.
But, this time, it’s not a cricket showdown but a football match.
The two countries will battle in the Unity Cup third-place at the Valley in London tomorrow.
The match is scheduled at 3,30pm and will be followed by the Unity Cup final between Jamaica and Nigeria at the same stadium.
India slumped to a 0-2 defeat at the hands of the Reggae Boyz on Wednesday night while the Warriors lost to the Super Eagles by an identical scoreline.
With the Indians ranked 136th in the world, and the Indians ranked 130th, the two nations are on par, when it comes to the quality of their arsenal.
The Warriors, who were missing a number of their regular players, had many debutants when they lined up against a makeshift Super Eagles side.
They struggled for rhythm with their midfield, which was boosted by the return of Marshall Munetsi, failing to impose itself on the sleeker, faster and confident Super Eagles.
Whether caretaker coach, Kaitano Tembo, will ring the changes in his quest for a bronze medal remains to be seen.
But, he knows that a second defeat, especially against India, will trigger another brutal soul-searching exercise.
Kaitano has defended his decision to throw a number of rookies into the fold against the Super Eagles.
“It is important for us to have an idea of the young players that we have,” he said.
“We need to create a huge database in terms of profiling players for the national team because we have situations where players get injured and we need to have an idea of who is going to replace who.
“Jalai came in late because his league in South Africa finished late and I thought Sean Fusire who hasn’t really played a full game for the Warriors did very well at right back in the 90 minutes.
“So, we now know that we can have Sean as an option at rightback.”
Amazingly, we have played the Indians before, in an international football match.
That was at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, which the Indians hosted, and we met in the semi-final of the football tournament.
The Indians emerged triumphant in that match, beating a Zimbabwe select side 5-3, with our goals coming from Albert Mbano and Eddie Mashiri.
A similar result will be greeted with disappointment back home.
The bottom line is that while the Indians are expected to beat us in cricket, in football the landscape, and expectations, change.
dyton mupawaenda