West Indies head coach Daren Sammy on Sunday defended the tournament’s pre-seeding system, saying group placements may have motivated teams like Zimbabwe to raise their level and perform beyond expectations at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Zimbabwe finished on top of Group B ahead of Sri Lanka, while former champions Australia were eliminated — an outcome that surprised many.
Pre-seeding for the Super Eights has been widely discussed since the tournament reached the later stages, but Sammy said he understood the system, particularly from a logistical perspective.
“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 said group composition itself can become a motivating factor.
“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 added that his team does not focus on how opponents are grouped.
“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 about facing a team not widely expected to progress this far, Sammy questioned the assumption.
“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 also said the format narrows the gap between teams.
“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.
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