India face must-win Super 8s game against Zimbabwe

Bogged down by top-order brittleness and under pressure after a heavy loss, defending champions India would need every ounce of resilience they can muster when they take on a tricky Zimbabwe in their second Super 8 match of the T20 World Cup on Thursday. Winning this contest by a big margin is critical to India’s existence in the ICC showpiece given the beating their net run rate (-3.80) took after the 76-run defeat to South Africa on Sunday.  But for that, India need to fix the issues surrounding the opening and No.3 slots.

Coming into this World Cup, the reigning champions rode on excellence from Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma at the pole position to quell the bilateral challenges against South Africa and New Zealand at home. But light seems to have gone out of Abhishek’s batting after a stomach infection. A combination of dull pitches and off-spinners, who took the ball away from his hitting arc, has reduced the left-hander’s firepower.

He is certainly a better batter than his current numbers — 15 runs from four matches at an average of 3.75 made at a strike-rate of 75. However, the real question is can he set aside the desire to play his natural game, and grind some runs against his name? It may not look flashy, but one needs to look ugly, at times, to win.

The changes that England skipper Harry Brook, a batter in Abhishek’s mould, made to adapt to the decks got him a match-winning hundred last night in Pallekele. Watching him will perhaps give the Indian opener an example to follow. Playing spin was never Brook’s forte, but the Yorkshire man sunk Pakistan’s spin armada at Pallekele, superbly pacing himself between defence and aggression. Tilak Varma too needs a course correction, but of a different nature.

One can argue that Abhishek’s lean patch has necessitated Tilak to play a more supportive role to Kishan, who continues to impress with a strike-rate of 193 amid the top-order ruins around him. But even then, a strike-rate of 118 is too less for a batter playing in the Power Play segment as per the modern T20 template. He generally strikes around 141 in T20Is.

Suryakumar Yadav has 180 runs but those have come at 127, way less than his T20I career strike-rate of 161. It has left Kishan with the job of doing all the heavy-lifting by himself. Had it not been for the acceleration given by Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya, India would have struggled to reach par totals in a couple of matches at least.

Should Samson be back? The opposition teams have cleverly fielded off-spinners in the Power Play against the three left-handed batters — Kishan, Abhishek and Tilak — to reduce their scoring opportunities. The inclusion of Sanju Samson, a right-hander, in top three can be a quick fix, but the Kerala batter himself is not in the pink of form.

So, the effect of adding another struggling batter to an already difficult space is debatable. In that context, the team think-tank can ponder over giving a promotion to Suryakumar at No. 3, and push Tilak down to No. 4 to break the sequence of left-handers at the top. But the management can take heart from the fact that Chepauk might offer them the best surface yet in this tournament.

It is the same track that was used in the match between Afghanistan and New Zealand albeit in an 11am game. On that occasion, New Zealand quite comfortably chased down a 180-plus target set by the Afghans. What might work for India is the fact that Zimbabwe’s spin attack of Graeme Cremer, Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl is not as potent as some others that the co-hosts have faced thus far in the tournament.

But their towering quicks, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava and the pacy Brad Evans, are quite capable of asking a few tough questions to the batters on their day. On the bowling front, India have little to worry about despite a fumble that allowed the Proteas to reach 187 for seven after struggling at 20 for three.

Jasprit Bumrah is as brilliant as he has ever been, and in the company of Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya, he should be able to blunt a relatively less experienced Zimbabwe batting unit. Adding teeth to India’s attack, left-arm spinner and vice-captain Axar Patel, who was benched against South Africa, is poised to make a return for this match.

Squads:

India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.

Zimbabwe: Sikandar Raza (c), Brian Bennett, Ryan Burl, Graeme Cremer, Bradley Evans, Clive Madande, Tinotenda Maposa, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Ben Curran.