Zimbabwe and the Netherlands face each other today at the Sylhet Divisional Stadium in the first round of the ICC World Twenty20 2014.
With just the Group B winners making it through to the Super 10, anything other than a win for Zimbabwe won’t suffice and it might still not be enough if Ireland are victorious in all of their first round games.
The Dutch, on the other hand, will be more confident of the two sides as they posted a six-wicket win over the United Arab Emirates in their opening game on Monday.
Zimbabwe, however, have all to do after suffering a three-wicket loss in their opener against the Irish two days ago.
Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor though refused to rule out his team from the equation just yet, as he drew inspiration from the past.
‘If you look back, we tend to have the ability to come back strong. The next game is against the Netherlands. We realise we must have two really good games,’ said Taylor ahead of the clash.
‘We’ll have a good training a day before the game. We will look forward to a couple of good wins. We know what we must do. I’m sure the lads will come back.
‘We will now sit down and regroup and look for a few areas where we can improve,’ said Taylor.
While Taylor was banking on Ireland slip-up, the Netherlands skipper Peter Borren had no such worries.
If the Netherlands register a victory against Zimbabwe today, all the Dutch have to do is win their last game and it will be enough for them to go through to the Super 10.
Borren though acknowledged the tough assignment awaiting them against Zimbabwe, a Test-playing nation.
‘It will be a little bit different against Zimbabwe as we have not faced them often. They will be tough and they have got a lot of variations so they will come right at us in a couple of days’ time,’ said Borren.
Zimbabwe’s preparation has been anything but ideal. Due to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union’s inability to clear the players’ wages in time, the cricketers boycotted several domestic games.
Sri Lanka and Afghanistan’s international tour to the Southern African country in October 2013 and January this year respectively had also been deferred.
All Zimbabwe got prior to the start of the ICC World T20 were two warm-up games that both ended in surprising results. After going down to a defeat against unheralded Hong Kong, the Zimbabweans outclassed a spirited Afghanistan side.
Taylor, however, refused to use their build-up as an excuse due to the fact that they all are professional cricketers and should be able to handle any situation.
‘We are professional cricketers. We have done a lot of hard work in the last five-six weeks. We’ve all been together. So it’s no excuse,’ said the wicketkeeper-batsman.
-With New Age input
