India take on Zimbabwe at the T20 World Cup tomorrow. Read our in-depth preview here…
India are not used to this. The tournament co-hosts and overwhelming T20 World Cup favourites are suddenly on the back foot.
Having won 17 consecutive white-ball matches in ICC tournaments, India’s crushing defeat to South Africa on Sunday means they are now struggling to qualify for the semi-finals.
To this cricket-mad nation, failure would be hard to stomach.
A win over Zimbabwe is the first step on the road to redemption. They will also be hoping the Proteas do them a favour by beating the West Indies earlier in the day.
The pressure is on but batting coach Sitanshu Kotak says that comes with the job.
“Obviously, [it’s a] World Cup in India, there will be pressure,” he said. “I am a big believer that any international game you play, even I have played some ordinary district game, when you go to bat, you will feel pressure.
“If you don’t feel that anxiety, it means you are not playing cricket. So that anxiety, you learn to deal with it from the start of your career.
“And this is a big-pressure game, obviously, when you are representing a country in a World Cup in India. A lot of expectation, but I honestly believe that for a professional, that’s part of his life, and we should deal with that in a positive manner.”
The pressure is one man in particular – opener Abhishek Sharma. The 25-year-old is the number one batter in the world in this format but has, so far, mustered just 15 runs in four innings.
Tilak Varma is another man desperately in need of runs.
Kotak added: “Just because we lost one game and have not got [a good opening] partnership, people talk more about it, but I honestly think they all are good enough to handle that pressure and we have to. If we want to win the World Cup, we have to handle that pressure. If we can’t, then it’s tough.
“And I don’t believe that there is anything this team cannot handle. I am personally looking for that momentum. Once we start getting that momentum again, if we do it from tomorrow, I think they will be picking up at the right time. So I am looking at it that way.”
Zimbabwe were also well beaten in their Super Eight opener, by the West Indies.
But for the African nation, this remains a free hit. They did not expect to reach this stage, but having ousted Australia, they can attack India with gusto.
The pitch in Chennai is one that traditionally favours spin but a lack of turn so far in the tournament has resulted in big scores.
Team News for India v Zimbabwe
Axar Patel should return while Varma is set to be given one more chance.
Richard Ngarava should keep his place ahead of Wellington Masakadza for Zimbabwe. Captain Sikandar Raza is fit.
Predicted line-ups for India v Zimbabwe
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Zimbabwe: Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Brian Bennett, Dion Myers, Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza (c), Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava
Where to watch India v Zimbabwe
India versus Zimbabwe starts at 1.30pm on Thursday for UK viewers. The T20 World Cup will be shown exclusively live in the UK on Sky Sports. You can stream it on the Sky Go app.
For coverage elsewhere in the world, click HERE for details of your local rights holder.
Prediction for India v Zimbabwe
Good teams rarely lose two games on the trot. And for that reason we are going for the hosts to get their campaign back on track.
