India vs West Indies T20 World Cup: ICC T20 World Cup: ‘Fearless cricket’ is India’s battle cry ahead of West Indies clash
India, the hot favorites to retain the title on home soil, bounced back from a heavy defeat against South Africa in their Super Eights opener by defeating Zimbabwe by 72 runs in Chennai on Thursday.
With Abhishek Sharma’s 55 in the opener and Hardik Pandya’s 50 not out, India’s batting post 256-4, the second highest in the history of the tournament.
In a brutal display of power, the Indian batsmen demolished the opposition bowling with 17 sixes and 17 fours at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
India will face the West Indies, who go to South Africa by nine wickets, in Kolkata on Sunday to decide the second semi-finalist of Group 1.
“We want to play fearless cricket, which is the brand of cricket we are playing today and have been playing since last year,” batsman Tilak Varma said.
“We want to keep the same intent in the next game. And we’re taking the same intensity (forward) going forward in the tournament.” Left-handed Varma made a 19-ball 44 as he put on an unbeaten 84-run stand with Pandya, who closed the innings with two sixes and raised his fifty.
Everything came together for India after reshuffling the opening combination with the return of Sanju Samson, who gave the team a flying start with 24 off 15 balls.
Left-hander Abhishek made fifty appearances in his first T20 World Cup after struggling with three ducks in four deliveries in the tournament.
“It’s important that the openers give us a good start; the same confidence goes for number three, four and five,” Varma said.
“And we discussed that whatever the situation is, even if we lose three-four wickets in the powerplay, we will bat with the same rhythm,” he added.
“And we want to show the fear of the opposition bowlers that these guys are ready to hit any ball.”
– ‘Maintain this intensity’ –
India, the world’s top-ranked T20 team, came into the World Cup having racked up huge totals in bilateral competitions and were predicted to cross the 300-run mark in the tournament.
But their batting looked fragile and was often exposed, including by the US strikers, who reduced them to 77-6 in the opener.
Varma remains cautious about his team’s plans against the West Indies, who posted 254-6 against Zimbabwe in their Super Eights opener.
“So if the wicket is not good, then we will adapt and maintain that intensity,” Varma said.
“I wouldn’t say we want to score more than 250 points but if we get off to a good start of course we’ll do that.”
Indian bowling looked good.
On Thursday, left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh took figures of 3-24 to restrict Zimbabwe to 184-6.
He surpassed veteran pacer Jasprit Bumrah as India’s leading bowler in the T20 World Cup with 35 wickets to Bumrah’s 33 wickets.
“We have been doing well for the last few years, so even after a coup or defeat, the faith of the group was there,” Arshdeep told reporters.
“We knew we had to come in and follow our processes and the result will come our way. So the thought was very simple and we enjoy it.”
The 2024 champions have the weight of history against them. No team has retained the T20 World Cup and no side has won the trophy on home soil.
