West Indies head coach Daren Sammy said Zimbabwe may have drawn extra motivation from being grouped with higher-seeded Sri Lanka and Australia in Group B, a factor he believes could have inspired them to punch above their weight and finish on top.
Much to the surprise of many, Zimbabwe topped Group B ahead of Sri Lanka, while former champions Australia were eliminated. The Super Eights pre-seeding has since become a talking point as the tournament entered its decisive phase.
Sammy said he understands the reasoning behind the format.
“If you take the logistics that comes into it, trying to give fans who probably travel, (it is) an opportunity to plan ahead,” Sammy told reporters ahead of West Indies’ Super Eights clash against Zimbabwe.
“… The big thing for most people is (that) they would be saying ‘oh! West Indies came out of the group’ (or) ‘oh! Zimbabwe came out of the group’ – that means somebody they see (coming out from) there did not come out.”
He added that such scenarios can act as added fuel for teams.
“Zimbabwe did what they had to do. If we were not seeded or so, and I saw this person (an opponent) is going to play there, that gives me motivation.
“I’m pretty sure Zimbabwe, looking at that group there, gave them motivation and inspiration to come out and play the way they played. But I do understand from the logistics standpoint, trying to give the fans the surety.”
Sammy did not dwell on how teams were placed in the draw.
“You seldom get top teams in the same round. My team knows they have to play (in) a World Cup. We’ve got Zimbabwe tomorrow, (then) we’ve got South Africa and then India,” he said.
“We’ve got (the two) finalists of the last World Cup. If you’re going to win, you’ve got to play what’s in front of you. Not take it for granted, not take anybody lightly. If you start to bring in other factors, it takes you off-track,” he said.
When asked how the West Indies were approaching a contest against a team not widely expected to progress this far, Sammy responded firmly.
“Who said Zimbabwe is not supposed to be here?”
“A lot of people say West Indies is not supposed to be here either. When you’re in a World Cup, you’ve got to respect every opposition.
“That’s what we’ve been doing; that’s what I encourage my guys to do. Respect the opposition, but believe in yourself, believe in your processes and your execution. Tomorrow, we approach it the same way we would approach a game against India or Australia or whoever,” Sammy said.
The two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain said the format naturally narrows gaps between teams and praised Zimbabwe’s leadership.
“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. Zimbabwe, missing out on the last World Cup, they (are) led well. Sikandar (Raza) is very confident. He leads by example.
“They’ve got six fans in the stands that sounds like one million. There are a lot of things that (are) going for them. I could understand from that standpoint, where nobody gives you a chance (and) how you could use that as inspiration,” Sammy added.
He also pointed to the broader competitiveness of the tournament.
“This tournament, we had 20 teams. Especially in our group (C), everybody won a game. The Associate teams have really pushed the full members. It says that the game is growing, especially in the shorter format. One person could actually impact the game on winning or losing.”
With West Indies enjoying an unbeaten run so far, Sammy credited collective effort and preparation.
“It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve had every single person that is available for West Indies playing,” he said.
“Just the way we’ve been building, the different players that we’ve tried heading into the World Cup, it’s a conscious effort on each player to just pay a little bit more attention to the detail, the preparation, the planning.”
He added, “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 (that) I feel we could do something special.”
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