T20 World Cup: Zimbabwe lone surprise as all but one Super Eight spot is sealed

A Super Eight of a T20 World Cup without Australia, one of the biggest crowd-pullers of the sport across all formats, will not quite be the same. It’s the first time since 2009 that the yellow shirts will be missing, though one cannot grudge Sikander Raza’s Zimbabwe passage to the next round for the first time.

The jigsaw is falling in place on the day 11 of the tournament, which has survived a rocky build-up with first Bangladesh being shown the door for refusing to play in India, and then Pakistan holding the entire tournament to ransom by threatening to boycott the India game. Thankfully, it’s all in the past and all but one spot in the next stage is already sealed: India, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, West Indies, England, South Africa and New Zealand.

Interestingly, it will be a toss-up between former champions Pakistan and upstarts USA for the eighth position. The green shirts, who were subjected to severe trolling after the 61-run defeat to India in the marquee game in Colombo on Sunday, 15 February, need to pick themselves up quickly to beat Namibia in a crunch game on Wednesday. A surprise loss, however, will jeopardise their chances as they will have to rely on old rivals India to beat the Dutch.

It has been a patchy performance by Salman Ali Agha’s men so far, but there’s no better time to pick themselves up. ‘’We’re really disappointed we didn’t play as well as we could, but we’re also part of a tournament and we know in tournament play that it’s not always going to go your way,’’ Pakistan coach Mike Hesson said. ‘’So, our job is to pick ourselves up and make sure that we are good in two or three days,’’ he added.

Two-time champions West Indies became the first nation to qualify for the Super 8 with a convincing nine-wicket win against Nepal that assured them a top-two finish in Group C.

Defending champions India were the next team to make the cut after an emphatic triumph over Pakistan in Group A. Last year’s runners up South Africa have also qualified from Group D alongside New Zealand. Two-time winners England were the second team from Group C to enter the elite stage after beating Italy by 24 runs in their final group match.

Co-hosts Sri Lanka were the first team to punch their tickets from Group B after humbling 2021 champions Australia by eight wickets at Pallekele on Monday, ending a miserable campaign for the latter, who lost two of their group games.  

Not many would have wagered on Zimbabwe going through, but they were the second team from Group B to advance to the Super 8 after a washout against Ireland on Tuesday. It was their surprise 23-run win over Australia that had pushed them to pole position ahead of the match. They began their campaign with a confident eight-wicket win over Oman and will be looking to carrying the momentum into the next stage.

Zimbabwe will take on co-hosts Sri Lanka in an inconsequential final group game on Thursday.

Seven qualifiers so far

Group A: India; Pakistan/USA

Group B: Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe

Group C: West Indies; England

Group D: South Africa, New Zealand