CHENNAI: Defending champions India take on Zimbabwe in a must-win game at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Thursday night. The loss to South Africa in their previous game has put India in a perilous situation as they need to win both their remaining games. And even that may not be enough as NRR may be involved.
India will hesitate to make too many changes at this stage of the tournament vut they will likely bring back Axar Patel for Washington Sundar. Sanju Samson may also get a look in if the team management decides to take the current top three out of the firing line.
Irrespective of what changes they make, how will they handle pressure?
"See, obviously, a World Cup in India, there will be pressure and a lot of expectations. I am a big believer that any international game you play, you will feel pressure. And this is a big pressure game, obviously, when you are representing a country," said Sitanshu Kotak in the pre-match press conference.
The batting coach believed that his players have the ability and mental toughness to beat Zimbabawe.
"I honestly believe just because we lost one game and we did not have a good partnership and all, people talk more about it (pressure). But I honestly think they all are good enough to handle that pressure. If we want to win the World Cup, we have to handle that pressure. So, it's just, I'm 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," he added.
One of the reasons for India to lose against South Africa was the tendency to go for boundaries from ball one. Many former cricketers are of the opinion that there is method in the madness in the game's shortest version. But Kotak said it's important to keep playing shots freely. "In T20, if you worry too much about temperament and not playing your shots freely... Its not going to help.
So, for that (not lose wickets in powerplay), honestly, if you lose a couple of wickets, you have to try and see that you see a few balls and play normal cricket for the next six to eight balls," opined Kotak.
Ishan Kishan has been scoring freely, but Abhishek Sharma has been underperforming so far in the ICC World Cup. "See in all the bilateral (series vs New Zealand and South Africa) our batting was really clicking. I think in this World Cup, the last game was a little concerning because in like a year-and-a-half, roughly, a couple of times only we got less than 150. I think we should take it in our stride that it was the worst game we played in two years, so we should just honestly I feel we should just don't think about it too much and move ahead," opined Kotak.
"We will play the same brand of cricket. I think we have to be very positive and play the same brand of cricket which has given us the success and clearly that is the way we will play, there will not be any difference."