Chennai, Feb 27 (PTI) He fell three runs short of a T20 World Cup hundred but Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett said that while it would have been nice to reach the milestone, he is grateful for his unbeaten knock which was the lone spark in his team’s chase against India.
Bennett’s 97 not out (59 balls; 8 fours, 6 sixes) went in vain as Zimbabwe lost by 72 runs against a rampant India, who piled up a massive 256 for four before restricting the visitors to 184 for six in their T20 World Cup Super 8 clash here.
“Yeah, it would have been nice. Cricket is just like that sometimes, I’m not always going to get to that landmark. Just grateful for today, to get out there and put on a good innings, but couldn’t get over the line… 250 (257) was going to be a tough one to win,” the 22-year-old told reporters.
On the lack of substantial partnerships during the chase, Bennett said: “I just told them when they came in — listen, if you see the ball, just hit the ball. Don’t worry about what I want, don’t worry about me, just you do your thing and then that’s what the conversations are about.” Bennett took on India’s premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah in the 13th over, smashing a six over long-on to bring up his fifty.
“He (Bumrah) was always going to be a tough one to face, (it was my) first time facing him. (He is) a top class, world class bowler. My thought process was just watch the ball as close as I can and just let my body do the action. The ball was in my zone and I just hit it,” he said.
Reflecting on the enormity of the chase, Bennett admitted the task was always going to be steep.
“Chasing 250-260 is going to be very tough. The chance to just go out there and express yourself, don’t worry too much about the scoreboard, just be you, play to your strengths and if it comes off, it comes off, if it doesn’t it doesn’t – and today it didn’t come off like we wanted to, but 250 is always going to be a tough one to chase.” Despite the defeat, Bennett said Zimbabwe would draw positives from their maiden Super 8 appearance.
“It’s the first time us as Zimbabwe has qualified to the Super 8s so obviously there’s been a lot of highs in tournaments so far, and for that we’re grateful,” he said.
“We’ve got one more game against South Africa, we’re going to try and learn as much as possible. We’ve learnt a lot from the last two games against West Indies and India today. So now it’s mainly just about learning and looking where we can improve as a team and as individuals as well.
“It’s not disappointing past two games, but there’s a lot of learning that’s been done and hopefully it will bear out in the future.” PTI ATK DDV
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