Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine said that his bowlers would be raring to face Virat Kohli in their last Super 12 match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2022 against India, to be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on November 6.
Notably, Zimbabwe are already out of the running for the semifinals, while a win will take Team India to the last-four stage of the tournament on Sunday. Ahead of the Super 12 clash, Ervine said that playing against India is a great opportunity for his bowlers to showcase their skills against some of the best cricketers in the world, and they are raring to grab the challenge.
Craig Ervine in the pre-match press conference: “Definitely, this is a great opportunity to bowl against some of the best guys in the world. So, there’s no reason why guys would (wouldn’t) want to actually get out there and produce the goods. How often do you get the opportunity to put Virat Kohli in your pocket? I am sure our fast bowlers will be raring to go tomorrow.”
He added, “I don’t think we have any plans against Virat. He’s just too good a player. But (for) a lot of the guys you can dissect so many different theories, and at the end of the day, if you come out and hit a good area, use your change-ups, all those sorts of things, I don’t think that special plans really work for these guys because they’re so good at adapting to different conditions and different situations.”
Highlighting Zimbabwe’s thrilling one-run win over Pakistan in Perth, Ervine said that they have belief to beat India on Sunday to finish the campaign on high. The Zimbabwe skipper added, “The win against Pakistan has given us huge amount of belief that we can beat any side in the tournament. I don’t think that will change going into tomorrow’s game.”
Hailing all-rounder Sikandar Raza, Ervine noted: “Sikandar Raza has been exceptional for us in this tournament. Playing against India tomorrow, we will need those sorts of performances from a lot of other guys in our team if we are to get over the line.”
Speaking on the conditions in Melbourne that generally favored fast bowlers a lot, Zimbabwe captain said: “I don’t think we’re worrying too much about conditions. We know here the grounds are pretty big. We also played a warmup game here against Sri Lanka.”
Ervine signed off by saying, “But I’m sure the wicket will be slightly different to what that was because we’re playing in the evening tomorrow. We’re just looking at what we do really well and concentrating on our strengths and not looking too much at the opposition.”
(With IANS Inputs)
