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T20 World Cup: Want to take consistency from the tournament with us, says Craig Ervine

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2 years ago

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Coming into the Men’s T20 World Cup, not many had predicted that Zimbabwe would enter the Super 12 stage of the tournament, though they were riding on a new wave of results since July. After all, they were placed in a tough Group A of the first round which included two-time champions West Indies, Ireland and Scotland.

But Zimbabwe scraped through to defeat Ireland and Scotland to top the table and enter the Group 2 of the Super 12s. With confidence brimming and the goal of making Super 12s achieved, Zimbabwe were now in the pursuit of making life tough for the big teams clubbed alongside them.

Though their match against South Africa was washed out, Zimbabwe managed to stun Pakistan by successfully defending 130 and winning by one run. They had some disappointments too, losing by three runs to Bangladesh and comprehensively beaten by the Netherlands in a five-wicket defeat.

Now, looking back at their campaign ahead of their final match against India at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, captain Craig Ervine wants to build upon the consistency shown by his team in the tournament for achieving bigger goals in the future.

“We knew that coming into this tournament, we had really good momentum. We got some great results leading into the tournament. The confidence and everything was up for us coming into the tournament and our main goal was to qualify for the Super 12s as well as still performing against some of the bigger teams.

“Going away from the World Cup, we want to take that sort of consistency with us. We know that the cricketing schedule is very busy going forward, so we want to keep this momentum that we have created. We have created a good support base now that many people are following Zimbabwe cricket. We want to try keep it that way and build on it going forward,” said Ervine in the pre-match press conference.

Against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe were close to making an upset victory and spice up the tournament. But their inability to score even a single run off the last two balls of the game, especially after no-ball was called when teams were already back in the dugout, was a pinching loss for Ervine and Zimbabwe.

“The loss to Bangladesh was very disappointing, especially to come so close. More so from the position that we were in, we were pretty much looked out of the game. But then Sean Williams and Ryan Burl together almost took us over the line.

“Then the last ball being a no-ball, and to come back on the field, you sort of sit back and think maybe we weren’t destined for it. It’s such a quick turnaround in this tournament. You can’t really sit and think if we had done this or that as there’s a next game which is few days away. So, we have to just kick on and look at the next game,” expressed Ervine.

With India coming into the match after surviving a scare against Bangladesh to win by five runs, Ervine is aware that with matches in the tournament going down the wire, no team can be ruled out of winning the game. Zimbabwe know it very well too, having stunned India by three runs in the 1999 ODI World Cup in England.

“For a lot of games, the World Cup has been really exciting because there’s been a lot of close games. One thing that we’ve learnt is you’re never out of it. If you can try and stay in the game and try and take it as deep as possible, you never know where it might take you.

“There’s a lot of different pressures that are at play in various games, so especially just trying to take the game as deep as possible and letting the other side panic before you do.”

Ervine signed off by hoping Zimbabwe can make improvements in fielding and losing wickets in a heap, especially in the power-play, in future. “There’s a few areas that we’d like to improve on. One is especially the fielding over the last couple (of) games, has let us down quite a bit. Also the powerplay, we’ve struggled a little bit on the powerplay.”

“We’ve lost a lot of early wickets and it puts quite a bit of pressure on the middle order. Losing those wickets in clusters has been our Achilles heel in the batting department, and then in the fielding department it’s mainly been our dropped catches and missed fields we need to tidy up on.”

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International

CT 2025: India to take on Pakistan on Feb 23, likely to play in Colombo or Dubai: Sources

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31 mins ago

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December 19, 2024

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New Delhi, Dec 19: The much-awaited clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025 will be played on February 23 with Colombo and Dubai front-runners to play host for India’s matches in the tournament being played in hybrid format. The development comes after the ICC Board said that “India and Pakistan matches hosted by either country at ICC Events during the 2024-2027 rights cycle will be played at a neutral venue.”

“India will take on Pakistan at a neutral venue on February 23, 2025. ICC looking at Colombo and Dubai to host their matches.”

The Champions Trophy is scheduled to be played in February and March 2025. Meanwhile, ICC said the schedule for the marquee tournament will be confirmed in the coming days.

Pakistan are the defending champions of the tournament, having defeated India by 180 runs in the final at The Oval in 2017. Both teams last played against each other in the T20 World Cup in New York earlier this year which India won by six runs and went on to claim their second silverware in the format.

Due to the strained political relations between the two neighbouring countries, India and Pakistan only play each other in international events including World Cups and Asia Cup. The last bilateral series between India and Pakistan was held in 2012-13 when the latter toured India for the five-match white-ball series.

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International

It’s OFFICIAL! All India vs Pakistan Matches At ICC Events To Be Played At Neutral Venue Till 2027

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December 19, 2024

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India and Pakistan matches hosted by either country at ICC Events during the 2024-2027 rights cycle will be played at a neutral venue, the ICC Board confirmed on Thursday, 19 December. The schedule for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is set to be confirmed soon, with Pakistan aiming to defend the title they won in 2017.

The eight-team event will feature Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, and South Africa, alongside hosts Pakistan.

This will apply to the upcoming ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 (hosted by Pakistan), set to be played in February and March 2025, as well as the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 (hosted by India) and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (hosted by India and Sri Lanka).

It was also announced that the PCB has been awarded hosting rights of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028, where neutral venue arrangements will also apply. Cricket Australia is set to host one of the senior ICC women’s events during the period 2029 to 2031.

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‘Our dream is getting fulfilled’: Coach Sumit Bhatia elated to see Kho Kho going global

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3 days ago

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December 16, 2024

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New Delhi, Dec 16: Coach Sumit Bhatia is all pumped up for the first edition of the Kho Kho World Cup scheduled to take place from January 13-19, 2025. Bhatia, who holds a distinct record of being the only head coach to have won the Asian Championship twice, believes that this historical step is an indication of the realisation of the dream to take the sport to the international level and help it gain global recognition.

Having been honoured with the best coach award by the Delhi government, Bhatia has been a part of various Indian teams’ success, including the 2016 and 2023 Asian Kho Kho Championship victories, and has trained players like Nasreen Shaikh and Sarika Sudhakar Kale. Both of them have been Arjuna Awardees.

Nasreen, who is also a part of the World Cup camp, is the only player who has played in two Asian Championships and won the gold. The coach-student duo is now gearing up for the global event.

Sharing how the journey of Kho Kho World Cup’s inception, the coach said, “We organised an international camp here before COVID happened, in 2020. Coaches and players from 16 countries came here and we gave them training. Now they will be coming here for the World Cup but this campaign started in that camp”.

He further said, “Around 30-35 countries were willing to play the tournament but we picked the best 20 teams for both men and women. Some countries have single teams while some have double teams but a total of 24 countries will be participating in the tournament. It was our dream to take Kho Kho to the international level and now we can see that our dream is getting fulfilled.”

He also lauded the launch of the Ultimate Kho Kho League and shared how the franchise-based model has helped the players and coaches gain recognition, while also bringing forward grassroot talent.

“When the Ultimate Kho Kho league started, I also joined Telegu Yodhas as their head coach and we also played the final. Players have gotten exposure through the league and it’s not just financial. Earlier we used to hesitate while admitting being a Kho Kho coach but today our players introduce us as their coach,” said Bhatia.

He added, “The league got so much coverage that wherever we go, the players are approached for autographs. So the platform of the league started a new world for both coaches and players and now not just India but the entire world knows us. Earlier we used to tell people about our game but now they know what is Kho Kho and Ultimate Kho Kho league and are also waiting for the third season.”

Bhatia also discussed the impact of sports science on Kho Kho and lauded the newly introduced technology and said, “We have benefitted a lot from it. Sometimes we don’t understand why a player is not performing well. But with the introduction of sports science, we now know about the details of the problem.

“For example, a player might be facing issues with his left leg while sitting and so, it gives us an opportunity to work on that weakness… Sports science has helped us in identifying the accuracy and weakness of a player. So it’s very beneficial for us.”

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