Rohit Sharma & Co’s fate rest in their own hands as former champs take on Zimbabwe in must-win game at MCG today
Skipper Rohit Sharma during India’s training session at Melbourne on Saturday. Pic/AFP
After two weeks of criss-crossing the breadth of Australia, India are back where it all started for them at the T20 World Cup. It might feel as if the last-ball miracle against Pakistan at the MCG transpired a lifetime ago, so much has since been packed in in so little a time. India have one final hurdle to overcome in their quest to make the knockout semi-finals, against Zimbabwe on Sunday evening.
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Indians look to top Group 2
Perched on top of the Group 2 Super 12 standings, India’s fate rests in their own hands. A simple—mathematically, that is—win will do quite nicely for Rohit Sharma and his men, who will be assured of helming their pool in that eventuality. Zimbabwe, out of the running, will try to make things as difficult as possible for one of the pre-tournament favourites, but all other things being equal, India’s depth and quality should carry the night.
The teams have played only seven T20 Internationals to date, all of them in Harare, but they haven’t met each other since June 2016. There is, therefore, little recent history to go by, though just in August, a Shikhar Dhawan-led ODI team swept the series 3-0 in emphatic fashion.
Zimbabwe will pin their hopes on Sikandar Raza, the one-time Pakistan Air Force pilot aspirant who masterminded their entry into the Super 12s, to come up trumps with bat and ball. Raza has already picked up three Player of the Match awards. He will need to reprise his heroics and hope for some of his other colleagues to step up if Zimbabwe are to push India to the brink.
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Refreshed after a rare day off, India will be itching to get on the park and get the business done. Their fielding has blown hot and cold, but when it mattered most against Bangladesh, KL Rahul provided the inspiration with a moment of brilliance and the rest held steepling catches under pressure with great composure to back up a bowling attack that has held its own despite pre-tournament scepticism.
Rohit, KL need runs
Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav have been the batting bulwarks, but the team is entitled to expect more from the openers. Rohit and Rahul have struck one half-century each, but beyond that, neither the skipper nor his deputy has produced anything meaningful. Equally worryingly, in four innings, their highest partnership is 23 and they have only put on 52 runs together at a meagre average of 13.
Admittedly, they have had to face exceptional pace bowling in conditions that have assisted the craft, but they are pedigreed enough to want more from themselves. If they can spend time together in the middle and string together an alliance of some substance, it will be another box ticked before the knockouts. Assuming India get there, of course.
2016
The year in which India and Zimbabwe last played a T20I against each other
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