Respect earned but Zimbabwe must learn to adapt: Walsh
Zimbabwe’s contrasting performances in India and Sri Lanka over the course of their T20 World Cup campaign have shown that the team needs to learn to adapt quickly in different conditions, said bowling coach Courtney Walsh on Saturday.
Zimbabwe stunned the likes of Sri Lanka and Australia in the group stage to qualify for the Super 8. However, their performance dropped drastically after moving from Sri Lanka to India for the next phase of the tournament. The bowling looked a lot more potent on the slow wickets of Sri Lanka but Zimbabwe conceded more than 500 runs in the Super 8 games against India and the West Indies to be eliminated from the semifinal race. The Sikandar Raza-led side end their campaign against South Africa here on Sunday.
“I think obviously the conditions over here in India are different from what we had in Sri Lanka, different pitches, and all that. So, it took a while for us to adapt. We didn’t adapt as quickly as we wanted to,” said West Indies great Walsh.
“I still think the guys put their hands up they did the best they could. Hopefully, we’ll have taken away a lot from these conditions here for future reference.
“The biggest takeaway is that how quickly you have to adapt in different conditions is one of the things that we will take away from this group.” However, Walsh feels the tournament has been a success for Zimbabwe, who earned the respect of the cricketing world, and hopefully it would lead to more games against the bigger teams. Following two heavy defeats in the Super 8, Walsh was asked if the occasion got the better of the players.
“No, I don’t think so, just being inside the dressing room, I know that wasn’t the case we had on that, we wanted to go further. I think, unfortunately, we came up against a West Indies team that was fired in conditions that they knew better than us. And I think even in the second game against India, it was similar,” he said.
The bowlers have not been able to land their yorkers in India and use of variations has not been up to the mark in smaller grounds. “In Sri Lanka, it stopped a little bit, it might have turned a little bit. Not much of that happened here. It was easier for batting there, a flatter track.
The ball came onto the bat a lot more, so with a change of execution, you have to be a little bit more spot on,” said Walsh. Fast bowlers like Blessing Muzarabani have impressed in the ICC showpiece. Walsh is pleased with the progression of a bowling line-up that is eager to learn the tricks of the trade from him.
“Just today, one of the players was asking when are we going to start discussing Test cricket and how we go about it. So, they’re very keen, they want to do well (across formats),” said the 63-year-old.
Team that bowls better will win: Walsh on India-West Indies knockout game: With both India and West Indies possessing plenty of firepower in the batting department, Walsh predicted the better bowling side on the day will win the virtual quarterfinal in Kolkata on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a very exciting game. The team that bowls better will come out winning this game because both teams are very strong batting, good batting, quality batting,” Walsh added.
