The last few matches of the First round of the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup are currently being held, and a fierce battle has been created between several teams for the Super 12. Among them, Sri Lanka, the 2014 world champions in Group A, and West Indies, the two-time world champions in Group B, are the two strong teams that have struggled at the top.
West Indies lost the first match against Scotland by 42 runs, but they made a good comeback by winning the second match against Zimbabwe by 31 runs.
Alzzari Joseph, who was the hero of the last match, showed very precious bowling and was the turning point of the match by taking 04 wickets for 16 runs in his 04 overs. Speaking to the media after the match, Joseph said that the victory against Zimbabwe gave him confidence to continue in the tournament.
“This win was very important because if we lost today we were out, so it was a very important win and it gives us confidence and momentum going into the next game we have.”
An uninspired performance against Scotland on Monday that West Indies coach Phil Simmons labeled “unprofessional”. When asked about the coach’s statement in the press conference after the game yesterday. Joseph said,
“As professional players, we have to be honest with ourselves and we knew we weren’t really pulling the weight with the bat, so I think it didn’t really take that comment to pull up our socks because we knew what we had to do even before that comment.”
Responding to Scotland’s setback, Joseph said the team’s approach yesterday was to “just trying to stay calm and be confident in our abilities.”
The captain of the West Indies decided to bat first after winning the toss of the last match, where they scored 153 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the twenty overs. Chasing 154 runs, the Zimbabwe players scored only 122 runs in 18.2 overs. According to Joseph,
“I have full confidence in the team. Everyone is a match-winner in their own right; everyone’s a special player, so we all have confidence in the team, and whatever eleven that goes out on the park, we all back them 100 percent.”
“We’re just focused on getting the win because if we didn’t get the win then net run rate didn’t really matter, so for us, it’s all about getting wins and getting the two points.”
However, the win left West Indies third in terms of net run rate, behind Scotland (0.759) and Zimbabwe (-), and still outside the qualification spots. The crucial next match will be played against Ireland and Joseph commented on it.
“Our focus is on doing what we have to do correctly and winning the game.”
When asked if the performance against Zimbabwe was good enough to beat Ireland, Joseph’s opinion was
“This game is already gone, so for me and for the team, it’s just about going back, getting our plans right. We know what we have to do. We’re not going to harp on (today) because today’s already gone… so our focus is on our next game.”