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T20 World Cup: Zimbabwe's head coach Justin Sammons talked about how the side needs to focus on winning those small battles rather than getting overwhelmed by the bigger picture. They now face India in the Super 8s, where it is a do-or-die clash for both teams.
Transcript
00:00All right, greetings and welcome to the post-match presser.
00:05With me up here is the Zimbabwe head coach, Justin Samuels.
00:09We can get going.
00:15Coach, how do you move on from a defeat like that?
00:18Well, you've got to take your learnings. Obviously, there's massive learnings.
00:22If we look at it, I think there's probably only three of our starting eleven that have played in India
00:27before.
00:27For eight players, it's the first time. It's completely different conditions.
00:32Grounds are smaller. There's massive learnings that the group will take.
00:36We take those learnings and we look ahead to the next game.
00:39We've come here looking at one game at a time and nothing's going to change.
00:43The next game is our focus now. We park the disappointment.
00:48We take the learnings and we move on.
00:50Can you just talk me through how different it was playing in India
00:53to what you've experienced in Sri Lanka the last couple of weeks?
00:57Certainly, I think, you know, from a boundary size point of view, I think it's probably one of the biggest
01:01differences.
01:03I think a lot of those, you know, a couple of miss hits will go for six.
01:07They'll be out in Sri Lanka. I think that's a big difference.
01:10Obviously, the ball comes onto the bat a lot better.
01:14So certainly, I think that's probably the biggest difference.
01:17And for Zim, you know, a lot of the cricket over the last couple of years has been played in
01:22Arari.
01:22And Arari is a really big, big ground.
01:26So again, it's good learning at the end of the day.
01:28You know, we take those lessons and we move on, yeah.
01:32Pooch, you moved to Chennai from here, where the ground is slightly bigger than this.
01:37So do you feel that you still have some form of advantage having played in Sri Lanka on similar size
01:41grounds?
01:42And your last match is in Delhi, where the ground is similar to here.
01:45So can you take lessons from here to possibly the last game where you can put in a much improved
01:50performance?
01:51Yeah, I think we know the way India is going to come out.
01:54And it's going to be very similar to the way West Indies approach their innings, you know.
01:59They're not going to hold back.
02:01So there'll be good learnings from that and how we deal with that, you know, under pressure in the moment.
02:06How do we stay calm and just think on our feet?
02:09And also just try and change things up a little bit, disrupt the rhythm of the batters.
02:13I think we were a bit, you know, if I can say predictable.
02:17I think we can be a little bit smart in that regard.
02:21Yeah.
02:21So obviously, like you say, Chennai will be a bit bigger and it probably will be a little bit more
02:27at ease in that aspect there.
02:29You know, not only with the ball, but also with the bats.
02:32I think we shifted away from the process that sort of we've tried to stick to.
02:37And we got unstuck through that, I think, you know.
02:40So I think we'll be a little bit more comfortable.
02:42But we know India are going to come out playing.
02:43So there's good learnings there.
02:44And then obviously we can move to Delhi from there.
02:49Coach, just a word or two on blessing Mr. Bani's World Cup.
02:54One of the leading wicket takers.
02:55Just what makes him such a threat in the power play with all those dot balls and wickets in the
03:01back end?
03:01Just a bit on him.
03:03Yeah, he's been brilliant for us.
03:06Obviously, he's coming back from an injury.
03:07So it was, you know, it's so good to see him come back and sort of hit the ground running.
03:12I think it's given him a lot of confidence.
03:15But, you know, his natural attributes in terms of his height, that's most definitely his biggest strength.
03:22And then I think he's been really good in the control of his length and his line.
03:26So he's not given the batters too many sort of free, easy boundary balls.
03:31If they look for the boundary, there's an element of risk that they've had to take.
03:35So I think he's been really good there in that regard.
03:39And then at the end, obviously, he's stuck to his strengths really, you know, and it's worked in his favour.
03:43It could have been different even today.
03:45What was it, the fourth over when Hitmeyer got dropped?
03:50You know, that was off blessing.
03:51They would have been, what, 28, maybe 27 for two.
03:55You know, and he would have picked up that wicket in the power play.
03:57And then, you know, they're two down.
03:59We all know the way the game works.
04:01And no one drops him on purpose, obviously, but it does have an effect on the game.
04:08Coach, towards the end, if you kind of take the result out of it,
04:12there was a nice little battle between an outright fast bowler and Shamar Joseph
04:17and Brad Evans, who was hitting it all over the park.
04:21You can just park the result and look at that contest on its own.
04:26How was that and a word on Brad Evans' battle?
04:29Yeah, so I think, you know, we've got to look for small wins in games like this.
04:37We've got to take those small wins.
04:38It's the first time we're in a Super 8 stage.
04:42No one really gave us a chance to be here.
04:43So whatever happens out there, it's a great experience regardless.
04:48You know, and we've got to make sure we're taking that on board.
04:50I mean, that's a great experience for Brad.
04:52I think he'll gain huge confidence from that with the bat.
04:56He's worked really hard on his batting.
04:58And obviously, he hasn't yet had a chance to sort of show what he's got.
05:02So, you know, there's a huge positive in that.
05:05And I think it also will translate through the rest of the team.
05:08They've seen, you know, Brad can do this.
05:10Hold on a second.
05:11We can still go out there and compete in the next few games.
05:14You know, if we bring our best, we've always got a chance.
05:17So, not only confidence for Brad, but also for the rest of the team in seeing how he went about
05:22it.
05:22And, you know, it was really good to see, you know?
05:25Yeah.
05:27Coach, I think your fast bowlers did a very good job in the beginning.
05:32And then kind of things fell off.
05:34But when West Indies scored 250, what was your message in the dugout during the interval?
05:39Yeah.
05:40So, you know, you've still got to believe that you could go out and chase it.
05:44That's the bottom line.
05:45You can't go out there thinking, oh, well, the game's over.
05:47So, it was really a message around, you know, we can do this.
05:51We just followed the same process, which I said I don't think we really did.
05:56But, yeah, and enjoy it.
05:58Enjoy the challenge.
05:59Have fun out there, you know?
06:01Again, we're here when no one gave us a chance to be here.
06:03So, go and enjoy the moment.
06:05That was sort of the message.
06:12Thanks.
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