West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd hopes to recover quickly from the nine-wicket loss to South Africa and be ready for the must-win game against India in Kolkata on Sunday. West Indies and India have their destiny in their own hands, and a winner will progress to the semis of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, with South Africa already through from the group.
"We want to just keep a level head and try and, you know, recover as fast as possible, for that big game is a must-win game. So we know our destiny is in our own hands. So hopefully, you know, we can go there and you know, get a win and go to the setting," Shepherd said in the mixed zone interaction on Thursday night.
Shepherd lit up the ICC Men's T20 World Cup with five for against Scotland, including a hat-trick. He became the first from the West Indies to do that in the ICC T20 World Cups.
He later had a quiet tournament and also missed a couple of games, apparently due to a minor injury. But he was back in the news at the Narendra Modi stadium by smashing an unbeaten fifty at No 9 position and creating a record in the company of Jason Holder against South Africa with an 89-run partnership, which is the highest ever eighth wicket stand in T20Is, among full members.
"It was a good surface, and we had a good start. Maybe we could have capitalised on it as South Africa batters showed how good the wicket was. It was tough to defend. Even when we lost wickets, every batter was telling the wicket was good. It was left to the lower order to do the job, and when I hit the first few balls through the line, I realised the wicket was actually good, and we carried on," Shepherd said after the match in the mixed zone.
The all-rounder smashed four huge sixes and showed the batting depth of the West Indies ahead of the do-or-die clash against India on Sunday. Holder also cleared boundaries with ease. With the likes of big hitters in Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, and Rovman Powell, Indian bowlers need to execute well, as South African bowlers showed on Thursday.
West Indies didn't read the conditions well in Ahmedabad, but they have already played a couple of games in Kolkata and are familiar with the conditions. They won the T20 World Cup at Eden Gardens in 2016. India will be wary of the unpredictable and mercurial West Indies.
West Indies' worry will be their dot ball percentage; they played 53 dot balls against South Africa, while India has big hitting ability, and also rotates the strike smartly to keep the pressure on the opposition.
Their bowling has lacked bite, and Shepherd and Holder will like to deliver with the ball in the company of Shamar Joseph and Matthew Forde. Off-spinner Roston Chase is likely to continue with India having four-five specialist left-handed batters. Akeal Hosein may return if the pitch suits spinners at the expense of a fast bowler.
India has good bowling options in Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, and Arshdeep Singh.
