CHENNAI: One of the things that India knew before even arriving at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday evening for the must-win clash against Zimbabwe was that South Africa beating West Indies would make their life easier. If the Proteas won — as they eventually did — it would mean India- West Indies will be a virtual knockout and net run rate won’t matter.
So, even when in the team hotel, they had their eyes on what was happening in Ahmedabad. West Indies were initially reduced to 71/6 before recovering to 176/8 thanks to Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd. Indian players, including captain Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Arshdeep Singh, were watching the match. Arshdeep, whose family was with him at the hotel, would reveal later, after India’s 72-run win against Zimbabwe, how his dad was cursing West Indies batters when they were hitting boundaries.
“My family was in the room. When the West Indies batters were hitting, my dad was cursing him, saying, ‘What are you doing, what are you doing?’. I said, ‘it's okay, don't worry, just enjoy the match, and hope that South Africa wins, and we win both our matches well’,” Arshdeep revealed in the mixed zone interaction. “I think if we win, we play good cricket, the result will take care of itself. They played very well, thank you to them as well for giving us the chance to decide our result in the next match. We had a lot of fun, and we'll try to not lose in the finals,” he added.
Tilak, too, said how the West Indies’ score was below par and that South Africa could chase it down. “We were watching the match. And we knew that the wicket was good. And West Indies made fewer runs. South Africa's batting is really good. That match got over before we started,” he said.
And now, with the tourney moving to Kolkata, all India have to do is beat West Indies and then make it to the semifinal in Mumbai. Arshdeep said West Indies have the capability to adapt as they did on Thursday against South Africa. “Today, if you see, they played really nicely in the middle as well. They took the game deep, and then made, what, 180 (176) runs, so I guess they can also adapt according to the situation. But looking forward to the game, we'll see how the wicket plays, what the conditions are like, but whatever team we play on that day, so the focus is right now on recovery, and we'll see on the game day,” Arshdeep said.
