If Zimbabwe’s cricketers were overawed by the support for the opposition, and you can be sure they had never played in front of so many people in their lives, India had, on the back of their minds, that this had been a tournament of upsets.
What was more, while England, Pakistan and New Zealand were decided as three confirmed semifinalists, just who would play whom where was yet to be decided, which tells you just how open this tournament has been right until the last game.
When nerves settled and Rahul scored his second half-century on the bounce, the crowd relaxed a touch. Then, Suryakumar Yadav did what he does day in and day out, clattering the ball to all parts in a spread-out wagon wheel that yielded 61 from only 25 balls. In the process, he notched up 1,000 T20I runs for the calendar year at an eye-watering strike rate of more than 180. The late charge took India to 186 for 5, a score that would prove 71 too many for Zimbabwe.
The result meant that India set themselves a semifinal date against England at the Adelaide Oval on November 11. A day earlier Pakistan and New Zealand would have settled scores at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
When the day began, these were hardly the likeliest four semifinalists. After all, South Africa were playing the Netherlands in the morning match, which was expected to be largely a formality. While the Dutch had beaten Zimbabwe, expecting them to get the better of an attack that included Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi was asking a lot. And yet they did so with some cushion to spare. After being asked to bat, Netherlands put 158 on the board, and comfortably kept South Africa down to 145 for 8, winning by 13 runs, knocking the Proteas out of the tournament.
This upset may have been the icing on the cake in a tournament that was wide open from the beginning, but it was by no means unique.
In the first game of the tournament’s first round, a qualifier of sorts, Sri Lanka, fresh off winning the Asia Cup, were stunned by Namibia. Perhaps the least fancied team in the running, Namibia smashed Sri Lanka by 55 runs. That should have served as adequate warning for the bigger teams who might have expected to coast towards the final four.
The mighty West Indies, two-time winners of this competition, got a taste in their first match when Scotland comfortably went past them. While Sri Lanka rallied to advance in the competition, West Indies’ tournament was over almost as soon as it had begun, when Ireland knocked them over. That was the first big fish to be scalped.
Ireland then showed that this was no fluke, beating England yet again in a major tournament. After putting 157 on the board, Ireland were good enough to keep England down to 105 for 5 from 14.3 overs when rains drenched the MCG and brought Duckworth-Lewis into play.
Just when it appeared that things were settling down and the premier teams were hitting their stride, Pakistan bucked the trend, losing by one run in a chase of only 131 against Zimbabwe.
Then came the big one, to cap things off, with South Africa sent packing on the final day of the Super 12s. And this is just counting the genuine upsets, not matches that went against the form book.
Cricketers often tell you that they do not take any opposition for granted, and while this is what they insist in public, they do expect to beat certain teams handsomely. What has happened now, however, is that the T20 format has reduced the gap between teams. While it would take a miracle for the Netherlands to beat South Africa in a Test (if they had Test status), in a game of small margins they only need a few things to go their way to come out on top on the day.
What is more, players from some of these countries may not get too many opportunities at the national level, but many are active in a range of franchisebased T20 leagues around the world. That fear factor, if you will, of playing a team as well-resourced as India or England or Australia, is now largely out of the picture. Add to this a keenness to prove themselves individually to secure additional contracts in T20 leagues, and there is no shortage of motivation.
The days of bigger teams just showing up and lording it over the opposition are truly a thing of the past.
BRIEF SCORES
- India: 186/5 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 51, Suryakumar Yadav 61 not out; Sean Williams 2/9).
- Zimbabwe: 115 all out in 17.2 overs (Ryan Burl 35, Sikandar Raza 3
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