T20 World Cup: Could have had changed up a couple of plans, says Craig Ervine

Melbourne: At the receiving end of a comprehensive performance from India in their 71-run loss to end their Men’s T20 World Cup campaign, Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine admitted that there were changes in a couple of plans meant to counter a formidable batting line-up.

Though Zimbabwe managed to take a wicket in the 12th, 13th and 14th overs, K.L Rahul’s second successive fifty in the tournament, making 51 off 35 balls and Suryakumar Yadav hitting an astonishing 61 not out off 25 balls meant they couldn’t keep India to a small total.

Moreover, due to Suryakumar’s brilliance, India took 79 runs in the last five overs. “I think maybe we could have changed up a couple of other plans. Suryakumar was brilliant at the end, negated Richey’s wide yorkers, which was our main plan. We could maybe have changed our pace a bit more there,” said a dejected Ervine in the post-match presentation ceremony.

Zimbabwe scraped a tough group to defeat Ireland and Scotland and enter the Group 2 of the Super 12s. Though their match against South Africa was washed out, Zimbabwe managed to stun Pakistan by successfully defending 130 and winning by one run. But losses to Bangladesh and the Netherlands by three runs and five wickets respectively meant Zimbabwe were out of the race for the semifinals.

Moreover, in the tournament, their top-order batting left a lot to be desired, especially with half the side back in the hut even before reaching the halfway mark. Though Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl shared a stand of 60 off 35 balls for the sixth wicket, Zimbabwe were eventually bowled out for 115 in 17.2 overs.

“Leading up to the tournament, we went in looking to be positive at the top, but the last 2-3 games we kind of went away from there. The ball was swinging, but to counter that we probably could have moved around a little bit, been more proactive,” added Ervine.

He signed off by saying Zimbabwe would build on the success of reaching Super 12s in the future. “We mustn’t forget the work we did to get into the Super 12s. We’ll look to build on that. Our catching wasn’t so good in the last few games, but I know the boys worked really hard on that.”

–IANS