India vs Zimbabwe Super 8: Sanju Samson in team mix for high-stakes clash of T20 World Cup
Opener Abhishek Sharma’s batting slump (including three ducks in a row) hurt India’s challenge. The team suffered a 76-run defeat to South Africa in their Super Eights opener.
India now face a simple equation: win their remaining two matches to keep their qualification for the semi-finals largely in their hands, or take risks depending on other results.
Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak admitted that team combinations for the high-stakes match were being discussed.
“There may be changes, yes,” Kotak told reporters. “And of course we don’t need to argue, because there are two left-handed openers and the third is left-handed.”
wait to win
Kotak downplayed the imbalance but admitted early disruptions forced the team to re-evaluate.
“Personally, I don’t think there is a problem with it, but every team can think about it as we lost a wicket in the first of three matches,” he said. India’s top and middle order are dominated by left-handed players, giving opponents a clear tactical approach.
Teams including Pakistan, Netherlands and South Africa targeted the vulnerability by opening the bowling with off-spin and dismissing one of the two openers with off-spinner in the first round.
In the defeat to South Africa, Abhishek’s opening partner Ishan Kishan fell for a fourth-ball duck after skipper Aiden Markram opened the bowling with off-spin.
Playing in the tournament when Abhishek was unwell, the right-hander Samson was able to break the left-hander’s dominance at the top of the order.
“People ask Sanju as a right-winger,” Kotak said. “Or you are thinking of playing three spinners,” he added.
additional pressure
Sikandar Raza-led Zimbabwe emerged as one of the surprise packages of the tournament as they stunned Australia and progressed to the Super Eights by hosting Sri Lanka.
The West Indies remain top of Super Eights Group 1 after defeating Zimbabwe, while South Africa finished second. Both India and Zimbabwe enter Thursday’s clash with an urgent need for victory.
“For us, every match must be won,” Kotak said. “If you want to go and win the World Cup, you expect to beat every team you play for.”
Indian middle-order batsman Rinku Singh left the team to take care of his sick father and missed training ahead of the important match. However, Kotak said Rinku will rejoin the team on Wednesday evening.
Zimbabwe came into the match after a 107-run defeat against the West Indies at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
However, Zimbabwe all-rounder Ryan Burl said there was pressure on India too to step up to the big stage.
“Pressure does funny things to teams,” Burl, a left-handed batsman and leg-spinner, told reporters.
“And of course there’s additional pressure because it’s a World Cup. So of course we have processes that we want to go through. And hopefully we can put those in place tomorrow.”
