Abu Dhabi, despite being the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), was till not so long ago referred to as ‘the sleeping giant’. It will be interesting to see if ‘the sleeping giant’ of the ICC T20 World Cup — India — wakes up from its slumber and opens its account at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Wednesday night.
Not brave
The task, however, would be much tougher. After being demolished by New Zealand on Sunday night in Dubai, India captain Virat Kohli had said his batters were not brave enough. With that being the case, the next test for the Men in Blue is a stern one since there is no team braver than Afghanistan.
Despite the struggles of growing up in a war-torn country, Afghanistan, over the last few years, has emerged as one of the most fearless cricket teams in the international T20 arena. Not only did it secure direct qualification, but has also notched up the highest total of the tournament so far in its first game.
While the burly Afghan batters would be itching to deploy the long handle against a bowling line-up that has only one wicket-taker so far, the Indian batters’ difficulty against the Kiwi spinners would make Rashid Khan and Co. buoyant heading into the game.
India needs to get its act right on several fronts. It has to get its combination and the batting order right, hope for the batting unit to come good for the first time and then hope the bowlers also come to the party.
Despite having rolled his arm over against New Zealand, Hardik Pandya somehow fit into the line-up.
It would be interesting to see if Suryakumar Yadav, having recovered from back spasms, will be included along with Ishan Kishan. The experiment to let Ishan open with K.L. Rahul failed miserably on Sunday, with a rejigged middle-order also being unable to deliver. It remains to be seen if India sticks to any of the two previous combinations it has used so far.
Jasprit Bumrah has had little support and the bowling group has had its back against the wall. With Varun Chakravarthy having failed to deceive the Pakistan or New Zealand batters with his mystery spin, India may be tempted to give either leggie Rahul Chahar or veteran R. Ashwin a go at the Afghan batters.
The road to the semifinals is all but blocked. A win on Wednesday can keep the fans and the statisticians’ interest in India’s campaign alive.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravichandran Ashwin
Afghanistan: Mohammed Nabi (captain), Hazratullah Zazai, Ahmed Shahzad, Gulbadin Naib, Naveen ul Haq, Rashid Kham, Hamid Hasan, Rahamnaullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Fareed Ahmed, Usman Ghani.
Match Starts: 7:30 pm IST.
