T20 WC: West Indies wary of steely Zimbabwe in Super Eight clash
A remarkably assured West Indies will be wary of Zimbabwe’s steely resolve when the two unbeaten teams face off in a vital T20 World Cup Super Eight clash on Monday. Both the West Indies and Zimbabwe topped their respective groups in the first round, but the job is far from finished for them as sterner challenges lie ahead. For the two-time champions, the West Indies, it will be another test of their self-assured approach in a format they truly thrive in and bring a flair that perhaps no other team does.
Daren Sammy’s troops have rallied well to the call of creating their own “little piece of history”, but consistency and rising to the occasion would be paramount. With four wins on the trot, the West Indies have ensured their series defeats in as many as seven bilateral affairs in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup are a matter of the past.
The Caribbean side has once again emerged as a force to reckon with, especially with a commanding win over peers, England and with dominating performances in which it brushed aside lower-ranked teams. Shai Hope (155 runs, two 50s) has found his form, ShimronHetmyer (134) has added a lot of firepower at Number3 and the two leaders in Jason Holder (7 wickets) and Roston Chase have chipped in with valuable performances along the way.
Sherfane Rutherford’s (126) explosiveness is another important factor for the Caribbean camp, along with all-round capabilities of Romario Shepherd (6 wickets), who, in particular, would lean on his IPL experience here at the Wankhede Stadium to deliver the goods. On the other hand, Zimbabwe have made the cricketing world yearn for more with their inspirational run so far, one in which they have thwarted challenges from former multi-format world champions Australia and Sri Lanka with great aplomb.
Zimbabwe have ticked the boxes of earning “respect and recognition” which they had set out for apart from making it to the Super Eight. But in a group consisting of the indomitable South Africans, the West Indies, and the title-favourites India, Zimbabwe will fancy their chances of causing maximum damage and see how far they can go. Zimbabwe’s self-belief and confidence match their all-round strength as they now find themselves in the big boys’ club, where the stakes are much higher than this band is used to.
The young Brian Bennett has been a star with the bat with two fifties and a total of 175 runs, putting him at the top of Zimbabwe’s run-scoring chart. But interestingly, the 22-year-old right-handed batter is yet to hit a six in this T20 World Cup, a fact that will not go unnoticed in the Caribbean camp at the planning stage.
In all, the Zimbabweans have hit a total of eight sixes in this tournament as opposed to 36 from the West Indies in four matches alone. It is worth mentioning that the SikandarRaza-led side played all their league games on more challenging pitches of Sri Lanka, while the West Indies were based in India.
With shorter boundary limits and assumed flatness of the surface here at the Wankhede Stadium, it is one area that the West Indies would look to exploit, as power-hitting remains their forte. It is something which would also challenge the likes of Blessing Muzarabani (9) - one of the highest wicket-takers in the competition - as well as Brad Evans (8).
But if anything that their wins over formidable Sri Lanka and Australia showed, Zimbabwe are ready to punch hard and push their opponents harder than they fathom before entering the ring, and the West Indies would know they have their task cut out from the word go.
Teams (from):
West Indies: Shai Hope (c&wk), Johnson Charles (wk), ShimronHetmyer, Brandon King, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Quentin Sampson, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Matthew Forde, AkealHosein, Shamar Joseph, GudakeshMotie, Jayden Seales.
Zimbabwe: SikandarRaza (c), Ben Curran, Clive Madande (wk), TadiwanasheMarumani, Dion Mayers, Brian Benett, Ryan Burl, Brad Evans, Tony Munyonga, TashingaMusekiwa, Graeme Cremer, TinotendaMaposa, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava.
