In other circumstances, Indian fans would not have paid much heed to the second Super 8s Group 1 game between Zimbabwe and the West Indies later today but after Suryakumar Yadav's men's crushing 76-run defeat by South Africa on Sunday night, they will now be very interested in knowing who wins Monday's encounter.
The ideal scenario for India now is to win both their remaining Group 1 matches against Zimbabwe and the West Indies, and hope at the same time South Africa don't lose to any of those two teams. That way today's game is insignificant from an India point of view but how these two teams play is something the team management as well as Indian fans would like to know, looking for any chinks in their armour.
Ahead of the game, West Indies head coach Darren Sammy, has really played up the African side who have already beaten Australia and co-hosts Sri Lanka in the tournament. In fact, it was their win against the Aussies that had set the 2021 champions' ouster in motion. The Kangaroos later lost to Sri Lanka too. Zimbabwe topped their group with three wins and one no-result due to rain.
"I'm pretty sure Zimbabwe, looking at that group there, gave them motivation and inspiration to come out and play the way they played," Sammy told the media ahead of the match.
{{/usCountry}}"I'm pretty sure Zimbabwe, looking at that group there, gave them motivation and inspiration to come out and play the way they played," Sammy told the media ahead of the match.
{{/usCountry}}"Like us, they [Zimbabwe] are very confident, they are playing some good cricket. T20 is a format that brings teams closer together. There's no clear-cut winner. These guys have played well.
"There are a lot of things that are going for them.
"I could understand from that standpoint, where nobody gives you a chance, how you could use that as inspiration," he added.
'West Indies onto something special'
The West Indies also had caused an upset of their own as they beat the 2022 champions England in their group. High on confidence, they went on to win their remaining matches in the group. Sammy said his players are in a very good space at present, he senses his team is onto something.
"It's the first time in a long time that we've had every single person that is available for West Indies playing. Plus, the guys believe they could do something special, that's what I saw and that's why I said it from the first press conference, I feel we could do something special."