- Wednesday, May 01, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA will come out of their seven-day break in the ongoing T20 World Cup in the UAE to take on New Zealand in a crucial Group 2 game in Dubai on Sunday (31). Given the firm possibility that India, New Zealand and Pakistan would beat the three other low-ranked teams in the group and since Pakistan have beaten both India and New Zealand, the winner of Sunday’s clash would do them a world of favour to reach the semi-finals. Pakistan are leading the table now with three wins. New Zealand are placed fourth in the group while India are at five owing to an inferior net run-rate.
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India, who came into the tournament as one of the favourites, faced a shocking defeat against Pakistan in Dubai last Sunday (24), their first against the arch-rivals in ICC World Cups. Against New Zealand, it is the turn of Virat Kohli’s men to break the jinx as they have a poor record against the Kiwis in ICC events. India lost to New Zealand in the final of the 2000 Champions Trophy, 2019 World Cup semi-final and more recently, in the final of the World Test Championship.
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The last time India beat New Zealand in an ICC event was in the 50-over World Cup in South Africa in 2003. New Zealand lead India 8-6 in head-to-head clashes in T20s.
Both India and New Zealand will look forward to winning the crucial toss as they were betrayed by the coin luck in their games against Pakistan and could not really tame the fired-up bowling attack that Babar Azam’s team has brought to the marquee tournament. However, India’s bowlers fared worse than their New Zealand counterparts as they could not pick a single wicket against Pakistan. The Black Caps, on the other hand, lost the game against Pakistan by five wickets.
Eyes will be on Hardik Pandya, the star Indian all-rounder who has not bowled in many games now due to injury. If he bowls in Sunday’s game, Kohli’s options will multiply. Given the fact that Pandya bowled in the nets ahead of the game, that will excite the Indian supporters.
The toss will be crucial at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. This year, teams batting second have won 14 out of 18 times in games played in Dubai. Both Kohli and Kane Williamson will pray for a win at the toss and the winner will invariably opt to field.
India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur/Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson (captain), Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Tim Seifert (wicket-keeper), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee/Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult
