India’s premier batter Virat Kohli’s patchy form during the USA leg of the T20 World Cup hasn’t harmed India’s campaign, but the 35-year-old will be desperately hoping to hit the straps when the Men-in-Blue take on a sprightly Afghanistan in their opening Super 8 fixture of the T20 World Cup in Barbados on Thursday.
Besides Kohli, who is yet to get to double digits in the tournament so far, the sub-plot of the story could be India’s composition going into the business end of the tournament, which will entirely be played on surfaces that assist the spin bowlers. India have so far operated with three seamers and the left-arm orthodox pair of Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja during the USA leg where the conditions were more favourable for the pacers.
Going by previous experiences, Rohit Sharma and the team management won’t be too eager to disturb the winning combination but with the wickets in the West Indies assisting the spinners, they will be tempted to bring in one of their wrist spin options – Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, who have warmed the bench during the entire group stage.
At the start of the tournament, skipper Rohit Sharma had expressed his keenness to keep all their all-round options in the Playing XI. And accordingly, all four all-rounders — Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar and Jadeja — have featured in the matches so far.
That strategy gave India a luxury of stretching their batting to number 8, especially in the bowler-friendly conditions in New York, but going by the two practice sessions of the Indian team at the Kensington Oval, it appears that the pitch could be an ideal one for Kuldeep’s inclusion.
But in that case, if Rohit wants to retain all his all-rounders, and also include Kuldeep, he will have to go in with two frontline quicks. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is certain, so the equation boils down to either Mohammed Siraj or Arshdeep Singh, and in such a scenario, Siraj looks the likely option to carry drinks.
With the surface likely to offer assistance to the slower bowlers, Axar and Jadeja would be backing themselves to make a decisive impact in the game. While Axar has been India’s unsung hero with both the bat and ball in crunch situations during the group stage, Jadeja is yet to deliver in either department so far.
In the batting department, Kohli will be itching to get back into his groove, and the veteran right-hander has been sweating it hard at the nets to regain his touch on the better wickets in the Caribbean. Yashasvi Jaiswal, the left-handed opener, who has been waiting for his chance in the T20 World Cup, will most likely continue to warm the bench.
Shivam Dube, who was brought into the side as a spin-hitter, will fancy his chances after managing to clobber the ball out of the park only once in this competition, thanks to the bowler-friendly pitches in the USA. Hardik Pandya, who has been exceptional with the ball, will also look to free his arms when the situation demands.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, head into the Super 8 fixtures after a morale-crushing loss to the tournament co-hosts West Indies in St Lucia. Their bowling attack, which allowed them to boss their first three games, was butchered by the hard-hitting home batters.
Captain Rashid Khan saw the defeat as a blip in an otherwise impressive campaign, insisting that his team remains a worthy contender for a semifinal berth.
“As a bowler, you need to come up with plans to keep the scoring to under 10. The morale is still pretty high and this loss does not affect us. We have achieved our first goal of reaching the Super 8s and now it is about taking the next step,” Rashid had said.
Rashid and Afghanistan’s fortunes will once again be relying on the start provided by left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi, who is currently the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 12 scalps. If he manages to swing the ball back, it could derail India’s batting.
On the batting front, in-form openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran would once again be crucial to the team’s chances. While Afghanistan will be eager to get back to winning ways at the start of their Super Eight campaign, India will be hoping to continue their undefeated streak.