MELBOURNE: Though they had been riding a new wave of results since July, few people had projected that Zimbabwe would advance to the Super 12 round of the Men's T20 World Cup. After all, they were drawn into the challenging Group A of the first round, together with the two-time champions West Indies, Ireland, and Scotland.
However, Zimbabwe just escaped to overcome Scotland and Ireland, finish first, and advance to Group 2 of the Super 12. Zimbabwe was now pursuing the goal of making life difficult for the major teams partnered alongside them, their confidence bubbling and their goal of making Super 12s accomplished.
Zimbabwe stunned Pakistan by successfully defending 130 and winning by one run despite having their match against South Africa called off due to rain. They also suffered setbacks, losing to Bangladesh by three runs and being soundly defeated by the Netherlands by five wickets.
Craig Ervine, the team's captain, wants to build on his team's consistency throughout the tournament in order to accomplish greater goals in the future as they reflect on their campaign ahead of their last encounter against India at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
"We were aware that we had excellent momentum going into this competition. We had some excellent performances prior to the competition. Our main objective going into the event was to make the Super 12s while still competing against some of the better teams. Everything was going good for us " We want to carry that kind of consistency with us after the World Cup. We want to maintain the momentum we've built because we know the upcoming cricket schedule will be quite demanding. We have a strong fan base today that so many people are interested in Zimbabwe cricket. In the future, we want to attempt to maintain it that way and grow on it "said Ervine at the news conference prior to the game.
Zimbabwe came close to pulling off an unexpected victory and enlivening the campaign against Bangladesh. Ervine and Zimbabwe suffered a crushing defeat as a result of their failure to score even one run off the game's final two pitches, particularly after the no-ball signal was made when the teams were already back in the dugout.
"It was incredibly upsetting to lose to Bangladesh after coming so close. We were essentially written off the game more so because of our position. However, when Sean Williams and Ryan Burl combined, we almost crossed the line.
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