Virat Kohli & Co eye another dominating show, against Scotland today, as they look to improve net run-rate to keep semi-final hopes alive
India players celebrate their win over Afghanistan at Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Pic/Getty Images
Have the Indian team hit their vaunted form two matches too late? It seems so. And just like they dominated Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi the other night, the Men in Blue will approach their next match against Scotland in Dubai today with the aim of not just dominating the opposition again, but also to register another big win to improve their net run-rate. Since India play the last game of the league phase against Namibia, they will be totally aware by then if they are in the fray for a semi-final spot, and if yes, what exactly they need to do to have a better net run-rate than New Zealand and Afghanistan.
There are many ifs and buts and the NRR part can be a tricky proposition, so the team must first focus on winning by a big margin. The Indians realise that the qualification equation is not in their hands and thus they will want to give their best and finish the tournament well and then hope for the best.
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‘Focussed on finishing well’
Ravichandran Ashwin in the pre-match media interaction admitted that Team India is much lower than expected in the points table. “That’s where we find ourselves in the table. That’s T20 cricket. We now want to focus on finishing [the tournament] really well,” said the veteran off-spinner.
Also Read: T20 World Cup: At last, a victory for Virat Kohli and his men!
On the prospect of Afghanistan’s upsetting the Kiwis to give India an outside chance to qualify, Ashwin said: “It’s a funny game, and Afghanistan have played good cricket. A lot of our hopes rest with them as well. All the very best to them. I really wish we could provide some physio support to them to play well in the park. That’s all we can hope for. We’ve just have fallen short of what we wanted in the first two games. Thus, our discussion has been on how we’re going to go about the next couple of games we have left. Everyone’s planning and wanting to go on a real high for the last two games. That [qualification] is stuff that’s not in our control. So fingers crossed,” added Ashwin.
Three spinners likely
For today’s game India may play three spinners, if they feel that the Scottish batsmen are suspect against spin bowling. With Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja finding form in the previous game, it won’t be surprising if India include leg-spinner Rahul Chahar in place of pacer Shardul Thakur. It all depends on how the team management foresees the pitch behaving and also if a third spinner will be more worthwhile than a third seamer.
Other than that, there is no reason for any change in the line-up after the way the team performed in Abu Dhabi and the Men in Blue will be eager to repeat that performance and keep even the slightest of hopes alive till the last game on Monday.
Also Read: Virat Kohli: The return of R Ashwin was a real positive
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