Some flaws were visible in the Indian team, which won all four league matches of the T20 World. In every match one or two players were playing and the Indian team was winning. In the very first match of Super-8, all the shortcomings of South Africa were exposed simultaneously and India got such a shock that now there is little hope of recovering from it. Zimbabwe’s crushing defeat in the match between Zimbabwe and West Indies has further increased India’s problems. Now the situation is that if Zimbabwe loses all its matches and India wins its remaining matches, then it can remain third in the points table and its journey can end only in Super-8. In this situation, the only option for India is to beat West Indies and Zimbabwe by huge margins and also hope to lose both the matches to either South Africa or West Indies.
India is at third position in the current points table as Zimbabwe lost to West Indies by 107 runs. In this situation Zimbabwe’s claim has become weak. However, he is not out of the race just yet. West Indies’ winning streak continues and they have secured 2 points with a big win in the first match. His net runrate is +5.350. At the same time, South Africa also gained 2 points by defeating India in the first match. His net runrate is +3.800.
How can India reach the semi-finals?
India’s next match is against Zimbabwe. If India gets a big win in this match, then it will get 2 points and its run rate may also improve slightly. However, despite winning one match, it would have remained at number three because South Africa, which is at number two, has a better run rate.
Also read: West Indies increases the concern of Indian team, defeats Zimbabwe by a big margin
Just before the match between Zimbabwe and India on 26 February, there is a match between West Indies and South Africa. India is expected to get some benefit from the result of this match. India will benefit more from South Africa’s defeat. If South Africa loses by a big margin and India wins by a big margin then India’s run rate will improve along with that of West Indies. In that situation India can reach second place.
India will expect amazing from Zimbabwe
Despite this, India would expect Zimbabwe to defeat South Africa. In this situation, South Africa will be left with only two points and will be eliminated. The second situation is that if South Africa beats West Indies, then India’s task can become easier and it itself can reach the semi-finals by defeating West Indies.
How many tricks are needed?
-India’s two wins
-Two defeats by either South Africa or West Indies
-Zimbabwe’s victory over South Africa
Also read: How did India get its second biggest defeat in T20? understand mistakes
What will India do?
In the last match, it was seen that after India’s openers, the middle order also collapsed. India dropped Akshar Patel and played Washington Sundar. He neither played much in batting nor was he used much in bowling. Abhishek Sharma has been a flop in the World Cup matches so far but he is continuously getting opportunities. Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Mohammad Siraj are there in bowling and Sanju Samson is waiting in batting. If any one batsman is given rest then Sanju Samson may get a chance.
India’s problem is that Sanju Samson was able to score only 46 runs in five matches of the T20 series against New Zealand. His biggest innings was 24 runs. He got a chance against Namibia in the World Cup and Sanju scored 22 runs in 8 balls but was out again soon.
Akshar Patel has played three out of five matches in this World Cup. He could not open the account against Pakistan and Namibia. Scored 14 runs on 11 balls against America. He has proved to be effective in bowling and has taken two wickets each with good economy in all three matches.
Kuldeep Yadav was played only against Pakistan but got only 3 overs of bowling. In 3 overs, Kuldeep gave only 14 runs and took 1 wicket.
Tilak Verma has been playing one down and has got a chance in all five matches. However, questions are being raised about his slow batting. His strike rate also remained low against teams like America, Netherlands and Namibia. Against South Africa, he was out after scoring just 1 run. At the same time, out of 4 matches of the World Cup, Abhishek Sharma has been out on 0 thrice. At the same time, against South Africa he scored 15 runs in 12 balls.
Also read: IND vs SA: Gautam Gambhir wasted everything in his insistence on playing Washington Sundar!
more problems, less solutions
India will have to hope against Zimbabwe that the players struggling with poor form give their best. Abhishek Sharma should find his rhythm in the opening and if Tilak Verma also gets a chance, he should score runs quickly. Also, the middle and lower middle order batsmen will also have to see that they make good use of the power play by hitting well. In bowling, India will have to see that Varun Chakraborty gets support from the other end also. Also, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh should get support from the fielders so that they can create pressure and take quick wickets and restrict the opposition team to low scores.
If India bats first against Zimbabwe then it will have to score 200+ and win by at least 60 or 70 runs. In this situation his run rate may be better. If India bowls first, it will have to achieve this target in 10 or 12 overs by restricting Zimbabwe to between 100 and 130. Only by doing this can the hopes of reaching the semi-finals be kept alive.
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