'Timely Shakeup': Shastri welcomes India’s loss as Ponting urges ‘best XI’ for Zimbabwe match

Former cricket greats Ravi Shastri and Ricky Ponting shared their views on Team India’s shock loss to South Africa in their first Super 8 game while also addressing their chances against high-flying Zimbabwe in their next, a do-or-die fixture. While Shastri welcomed a timely setback for India, which has put their semifinal spot in jeopardy, Ponting urged India to return to basics and pick their best XI for the Chennai wicket. The two, however, agreed on bringing back Axar Patel in the XI for this crucial match.

India conceded its first T20 World Cup match after 12 successive wins across two editions; it was also their first in ICC white-ball events since the 2023 ODI World Cup final, sending shockwaves among a billion fans. Shastri said after you win 12 matches back-to-back, you are bound to lose one, and it’s better that India suffered this wrath in the Super 8s, where they still have two shots at redemption; otherwise, their title defence would have been over (had it happened in the knockouts).

“You win 12 matches on the trot, there's bound to be an off day. And I'm glad it has come early. It might just be the shakeup India needed,” Shastri said on the latest episode of The ICC Review. “It might also make them rethink their strategy as to the composition of the side going ahead.

"They would have learned from that last experience that they're not going to take things for granted because in this Super Eight if you lose one more (match), then you're really putting yourself under serious pressure,” he continued.

‘Return to basics and pick Axar Patel’

Discussing Axar Patel’s omission from the XI for the South Africa game, Ponting noted how his inclusion in the next could elevate India’s chances of punching the semis ticket in this tournament co-hosted by them and Sri Lanka. Should India beat Zimbabwe, they must also defeat the unbeaten West Indies in Kolkata to do their part and wait for other results to fall in their favour.

“Listening to the commentary, the reason Axar didn’t play (against South Africa) is because of the left-handers on the opposition side. But there's still some right-handers there. It just comes down to the art of the captain of being able to use Axar at the right time,” Ponting said of Axar’s absence from the playing XI. “I would be going back to the basics. I'd be just looking at their lineup. Who's our best XI for the conditions in Chennai?

“If that has Axar Patel in it, great. If it has Kuldeep Yadav in it, that's the other one that I'd be thinking about bringing back because it doesn't matter with him if it's left-hand or right-hand. He can bowl wrong ones and spin the ball away from the left-hand outside edge of both those batters,” he noted.