A week after winning the T20 World Cup, India lost to a team which had not even qualified for the event. Zimbabwe had not made the cut, while Namibia and Uganda did. In Harare on Saturday, however, the game of glorious uncertainties witnessed a famous upset.
It’s not a result of monumental consequence because this Indian team is an inexperienced bunch. None of the players were part of the World Cup squad, there were three debutants and this lot never played together as a team. On the other hand, this was big because they lost to Zimbabwe, which as a cricket entity and a country, has been exploring lows over the last several years.
Nobody thought India would struggle to get there once they restricted the hosts to 115/9. These are Indian Premier League stars after all. They are part of teams which make in excess of 200 every now and then. But the pitch had a bit of assistance for the bowlers, the Indian batting unit was certainly complacent and they were up against a side eager to snatch something of note after a long time.
The average Indian expectation was, Shubman Gill is there. If he doesn’t get it, then Abhishek Sharma will. If he cannot, there is Ruturaj Gaekwad, Riyan Parag and Rinku Singh. This lot was way too much than the meagre Zimbabwean total. Then, at 43/5 in the 10th over, apprehension started creeping in. Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan tried, but the Zimbabweans had sniffed blood.
Their fast bowlers and captain Sikandar Raza with his off-spin strangulated the much fancied batters from the visiting side. The fielding was not always flawless, but spirited nonetheless. And when they saw they had the chance to cause one of the biggest upsets in recent times, they gave it their all. Washington’s reluctance to take singles to be on strike towards the end helped the Zimbabwean cause.
The Indians will probably not lose sleep because there are four more matches remaining, but they will do well to take this as a reality check. They will have to get this out of their system and come back harder than they had thought before the series started.
As for Zimbabwe, they will certainly celebrate this. Not often do they have illustrious visitors such as the Men in Blue. To beat them comprehensively, by a margin of 13 runs in a low-scoring match, is big deal indeed. In all likelihood, this was good for the game of cricket as well.
In exclusive arrangement with RevSportz
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