Turnaround time: India eye reboot vs Zimbabwe after heavy loss to South Africa

Forced into a must-win situation following the big loss to South Africa, India will be looking for a quick reboot in the game against Zimbabwe at the Chepauk on Thursday...
CHENNAI: The real World Cup starts now. India’s humbling loss to South Africa has ensured that the cloak of invincibility has been stripped away. The defeat has forced the hosts into ‘knockout’ mode, starting with the Super 8 match against Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Thursday. It’s essentially a round-of-16 match followed by a ‘virtual quarterfinal’ against West Indies in Kolkata on March 1. However, there’s a catch — if West Indies beat South Africa on Thursday afternoon and South Africa beat Zimbabwe, then even two wins may not be enough for India to make the semifinals.

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West Indies’ 107-run win against Zimbabwe, coupled with India’s 76-run loss to South Africa, has left a massive gulf in the net run rate (NRR) which even two big wins may not be able to bridge. While West Indies have +5.35, India have -3.8. Even before they take the field against Zimbabwe on Thursday, Suryakumar Yadav will pray that South Africa keep their part of the bargain and beat the Windies in the day game.




However, those are factors India cannot control. What India can do, however, is beat Zimbabwe handsomely to boost their morale, which has taken a sound beating. Nothing worked for them against South Africa, but then that was not an aberration. Abhishek Sharma is carrying the burden of four failures, Tilak Varma has looked a shadow of the batter who won India the Asia Cup final in September last year and Surya hasn’t fired on all cylinders since the USA game. When three of the top four are struggling for form, it’s a losing battle at this level.

The problem with this Indian team is that the quality of the backups isn’t great either. Sanju Samson, if pushed in ahead of Tilak and Ishan is asked to bat at No. 3, will be a forced selection. Sanju has done nothing extraordinary with the bat in the chances that he has got so far, including the one in the World Cup. His inclusion will just be a desperate ploy to plug a hole.

While that’s one part of the story, the obvious course correction that India will do at Chepauk is to bring back Axar Patel in place of Washington Sundar. Making Axar sit out against SA didn’t make tactical sense and backfired badly.

The one relief for India going into Thursday’s game will be the situation Zimbabwe are in. They made the Super 8s at the expense of Australia and on the back of some extremely spunky performances in Sri Lanka. But the conditions in Sri Lanka, which favour their kind of slower bowlers who love taking pace off the ball, are significantly different from conditions in India.

Zimbabwe found this out the hard way against the West Indies at the Wankhede and the conditions at the Chepauk are likely to be similar. If two of India’s big hitters click on the unusually batting-friendly pitch here, the game should be over as Zimbabwe don’t seem to have the firepower to chase, say, a 200-plus total.

Zimbabwe coach Justin Sammons explained how the inexperience of playing in India can be a major impediment for his team. “There’s probably only three in our starting XI that have played in India before. So, for eight players it’s the first time. These are completely different conditions (to Lanka), grounds are smaller, so there’s massive learning that the group will take. We’ll park the disappointment and move on (from the West Indies game),” Sammons said.

The coach knows how hungry India will be to turn things around after what happened in Ahmedabad. Their approach will be pretty much similar to West Indies’, whereby Abhishek & Co. will look to demolish Zimbabwe by the sheer weight of runs. What gives Samons a little hope is the fact that the Chepauk playing area is slightly bigger than the Wankhede, which should give their bowlers some sort of respite.

“India are not going to hold back. So we have to stay calm and think on our feet and try to change things up a little to disrupt the rhythm of their batters. Chennai will be a bit bigger and it probably will make things a little easier,” Samons said.

For Zimbabwe to make a match of it, a lot of things have to fall in place, with the form of mystery spinner Sikandar Raza and paceman Blessing Muzarabani being on top of the list. The duo leaked 94 off seven overs in Mumbai and it’s on Indian power hitters to make it a repeat show and keep the hopes alive.


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