India will be looking to secure a semi-final berth when they take on Zimbabwe in their final Super 12 encounter of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the MCG in Melbourne on Sunday.
Preview
India are currently sitting at the top of Group 2 with six points and they have a pretty good NRR as well. But they are still not assured of a semi-final spot, which means they have to win this contest to confirm their qualification. Rohit Sharma’s men have performed quite well in this tournament. Barring the encounter against South Africa, where they lost after making multiple mistakes, India have been clinical in all three of their wins. They are coming into this match on the back of a close contest against Bangladesh. The match went right down to the wire.
India have some in-form batters like Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav. KL Rahul also struck form in the last match. As far as the bowlers are concerned, they have done a pretty good job as well. Even though the batters failed in one game, the bowlers have performed consistently in all matches. And that gives India a lot of confidence going into this contest.
Zimbabwe, on the other hand, were expected to achieve a lot after they upset Pakistan. But they have only gone to encounter disappointing defeats since then, losing to Bangladesh by a meager three runs and then to Netherlands by five wickets. Their semi-final hopes are already over but they have one final match to showcase their potential to the world, and they will be eager to deliver a performance to remember here.
Predicted Playing XIs
India
KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Zimbabwe
Wesley Madhevere, Craig Ervine (c), Regis Chakabva (wk), Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba, Ryan Burl, Luke Jongwe, Tendai Chatara, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani
Key Players
Virat Kohli: He has been in excellent batting form in this T20 World Cup. Kohli has already scored three fifties in this tournament, including match-winning knocks of 82* and 62* against Pakistan and Bangladesh, and he will be eager to carry his form forward into this contest.
Sikandar Raza: The veteran all-rounder has been an impact player with both bat and ball for Zimbabwe. Raza has amassed 185 runs in this tournament, including one fifty, and has also claimed nine wickets at 15.33 runs a piece.
Prediction
Zimbabwe are a spirited team but India are a far superior side in terms of quality and experience. That’s why Rohit Sharma and Co. will be the favourites to win this contest.
