Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh believes that Team India can’t be complacent before their final Super 12 game of the T20 World Cup against Zimbabwe. The two teams will take on each other at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, November 6.
If South Africa and Pakistan win their respective games on Sunday, then India will have to beat Zimbabwe to qualify for the semifinals. Although Zimbabwe have lost their previous two games, they beat Pakistan earlier in the tournament and can’t be taken lightly as well.
Speaking to Aaj Tak, Harbhajan Singh explained: “It shouldn’t happen (Zimbabwe winning), but we can’t take anything for granted as cricket is a funny game. We went to the 2007 World Cup thinking that we will do well since we had a very strong team. But then, we were beaten by Bangladesh and then Sri Lanka knocked us out.”So, India will know the importance of this game and will have to treat it like a must-win game.”
Meanwhile, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting recently stated that the Indian team is yet to play their potential yet at the T20 World Cup. The team won against Pakistan and Bangladesh while suffering a defeat at the hands of South Africa as well. Their only convincing victory came against the Netherlands, a team they were expected to beat anyway as well.
However, Harbhajan Singh feels the team will take a lot of confidence from their thrilling wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh.
On this, the former off-spinner stated: “Although Ricky feels we haven’t played out best cricket, but I look at it differently. The best knock of this World Cup was of Virat Kohli against Pakistan. So, other teams might be feeling that India are not out of the game until the last ball is bowled.”
He further added: “Playing best cricket doesn’t always mean beating the opposition by 100 runs. Other teams are also here to win and play good cricket.”
Harbhajan Singh also recalled the knockout wins over Australia and Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup, in which he played, and how it helped the team in the final against Sri Lanka:
“When we won the quarterfinal against Australia and semifinal against Pakistan [in 2011], the pressure of the final got reduced drastically because we had beaten big teams. So these close wins in the group stages will only help India take less pressure if they reach the knockout stages,” Harbhajan Singh concluded.
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