Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted his team could have been a bit more clinical with the ball after they registered a comprehensive 72-run win against Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Thursday. 

India posted an above-par score of 256 runs on the board after they were put into bat by Zimbabwean captain Sikandar Raza. Abhishek Sharma got back into form as he scored 55 runs off 30 balls whereas Hardik Pandya smashed 50 runs off 23 balls. Tilak Varma added the finishing touches with a cameo of 16-ball 44.

On the other hand, Zimbabwe scored 184-6 with Brian Bennett scoring 97 runs off 59 balls. Shivam Dube had a tough night with the ball, returning with expensive figures of 1-46 in two overs he bowled. 

Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation, “I think we wanted to leave everything behind. We didn’t think too much about what we did in the league stage or in the last game in Ahmedabad. Our video analyst had prepared a slide for all the batters and bowlers, highlighting what we’ve done well over the past year. We looked at that, took a lot of positivity from it, and came here with clarity. With contributions from the top order right down to number seven, I think there was hardly anything missing in our performance. To be very honest, we could have been a little more clinical with the ball. But at the end of the day, a win is a win, and we’ll take it as we move forward.”

SKY added that they would want to be better against the West Indies but gave credit to the Zimbabwean batters for their impressive showing.

He concluded, “We’ll definitely tighten a few screws when we go and play the West Indies cricket team. I don’t want to take any credit away from the Zimbabwean batters. I think they batted beautifully.”

India will take on the West Indies at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Sunday in what will be a virtual quarterfinal clash.