Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted that his side could have put in a better bowling performance in the second innings of the T20 World Cup Super 8 clash against Zimbabwe in Chennai on Thursday. The 35-year-old credited the visitors for their batting effort in their pursuit of 257 runs, admitting that his bowlers could have been smarter in the chase.
Chasing 257 runs for victory, Zimbabwe finished on 184/6 after 20 overs with Brian Bennett making a splendid, unbeaten 97 off 59 balls, carrying on from his fine batting form in the tournament.
“To be very honest, we could have been a little more clinical with the ball. But at the end of the day, a win is a win, and we’ll take it as we move forward. We’ll definitely tighten a few screws when we go and play the West Indies cricket team. I don’t want to take any credit away from the Zimbabwean batters.”
“I think they batted beautifully. Yes, the wicket was good, but the way they approached the innings – taking their time in the powerplay and then accelerating smartly – was impressive. Credit goes to them as well. From a bowling point of view, though, we could have been a little smarter with certain options at key moments,” Surya said in the post-match presentation on Thursday.
He revealed that the team’s video analyst gave a “slide” to all the batters and bowlers after the defeat to South Africa in , and they looked at that and came to with clarity and positivity.
“I think we wanted to leave everything behind. We didn’t think too much about what we did in the league stage or in the last game in Ahmedabad. Our video analyst had prepared a slide for all the batters and bowlers, highlighting what we’ve done well over the past year. We looked at that, took a lot of positivity from it, and came here with clarity. With contributions from the top order right down to number seven, I think there was hardly anything missing in our performance,” he said.
After the win on Thursday, India will next take on West Indies in their final Super 8 clash at the Eden Gardens in on Sunday. The winner of that match will qualify for the semifinals with South Africa from Group 1. Earlier in the day, South Africa beat West Indies by nine wickets in Ahmedabad.
