Confident Zimbabwe see ‘huge’ chance to make World Cup semis

Ag AFP

BRISBANE: Confident skipper Craig Ervine said Saturday that Zimbabwe had a “huge” chance to reach the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals, praising new coach Dave Houghton for instilling belief in the team.

The African nation, who came through the first round in Australia to make the Super 12, pulled off a stunning one-run upset over Pakistan on Thursday.

It came on the back of them sharing the points with South Africa from a washed-out game, leaving them level on three points with the Proteas and one behind Group 2 leaders India.

Zimbabwe face Bangladesh next in Brisbane on Sunday (today), followed by the Netherlands and heavyweights India.

“Look, we’ve got a huge chance to make the semis,” said Ervine.

“Again, it requires us to win against Bangladesh and also to beat (the) Netherlands, and then we’ve got our final game against India, and depending on some other results.”

“The guys, obviously got their tails up,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of confidence obviously with the win against Pakistan, but we just know how fragile this game is and how quickly it can turn around.

“But we can’t look too far ahead right now. I think we’re probably just looking at tomorrow and trying to concentrate on tomorrow’s game.”

Zimbabwe are in the Super 12 for the first time, turning a corner since Houghton, the country’s first Test captain back in 1992, was appointed for his second stint as national coach in July.

He steered them through the qualifying tournament and to a point where Ervine is talking about a semi-final chance.

Ervine said Houghton, considered one of Zimbabwe’s best batsmen, had brought a new approach, along with huge respect.

“When Dave took over, he basically changed the way that we did our training, and installed a lot of belief back into each and every player,” he said.

“Every time he speaks, you can just look around the room and you can tell that everybody is paying attention. Everybody is taking it in. Everybody respects him.

“He’s managed to just change the mentality of every single player in the squad, and I think through the performances, I think it’s reassured everybody that what Dave is doing for us works.”

BD look to future at T20 World Cup

Bangladesh coach Sridharan Sriram said Saturday he believed his team could become “a very good T20 side for the future” despite mixed fortunes so far at the World Cup, with Zimbabwe their next challenge.

The Asian nation headed into the tournament with their only win in the Twenty20 World Cup main draw against the West Indies at the 2007 inaugural edition.

They added another with a nine-run victory against the Netherlands before being brought crashing back to earth by South Africa in a 104-run defeat.

Zimbabwe are next up in Brisbane on Sunday, fresh from their stunning one-run upset over Pakistan.

Sriram, who took the reins ahead of the Asia Cup in August when Russell Domingo was axed after a string of poor results, said they had full respect for Zimbabwe.

“We have a plan, but we respect Zimbabwe, they had an amazing performance against Pakistan, we watched every ball of it,” he said, adding that had already put the South Africa loss behind them.

“We can’t look at the points table, we can’t dwell on what’s happened. It’s about remaining really calm, being very clear with our plans and focused on execution on the day.

“In tournament play, there is no place for emotions, you can have a bad day then bounce back really strong.

“Whether you win massively, lose massively, the next day it’s gone. You wake up, train, travel and play. So nothing changes from our side.”

Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Liton Das and Afif Hossain will again carry the team’s batting order against Zimbabwe while pace spearhead Mustafizur Rahman is set to lead the bowling charge.

Former Indian allrounder Sriram said a second win would give them a huge confidence boost ahead of big games against India and Pakistan next week.

“We are building a side and the confidence of the boys, they know where they stand in world cricket and where they want to go,” he said.

“I think we’ve set that base, from a team point of view we want to build this side for the future and we have got a set of boys, we’ve got the skill sets.