Rohit & Co unlikely to face any hiccups in maintaining all-win record when they face Canada today, but washout fear looms; out-of-form Virat Kohli will eye runs against first-timers
India players celebrate the dismissal of USA’s Nitish Kumar in New York on Wednesday. Pic/Getty Images
Alongside Australia, West Indies, Afghanistan and South Africa, India are the only side with an all-win record in the T20 World Cup so far, a record that is unlikely to come under serious threat on Saturday against Canada.
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Actually, it’s a record that might take a beating, but only because the prospects of play at the Broward Central Park & Broward County Stadium have taken a massive beating, owing to the precipitation of the last few days, with more rain forecast for the next couple.
Training session cancelled
Having made the trip from New York to Fort Lauderdale via West Palm Beach on Wednesday evening, not long after they formalised their entry into the Super Eight stage by defeating United States by seven wickets, India were forced to cancel their training session on Friday owing to the weather. The venue has already witnessed one total washout, Sri Lanka v Nepal on Tuesday, and more bad news could be in store over the weekend.
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Virat Kohli
Need to iron out a few kinks
Should the Canada match go ahead, India will look to iron out a few kinks. The near-diabolical surfaces in New York didn’t allow their batters to get into any rhythm. Not even free-stroking virtuosos like skipper Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant and Shivam Dube could play their strokes with authority and confidence, while Virat Kohli’s stint as opener has been little short of disastrous.
Kohli has weighed in with only five runs in three digs, the last of them a first-ball duck. While that won’t set off alarm bells, the former skipper himself would
like to find a semblance of run-scoring touch against a Canadian side well beaten by USA and Pakistan, but which put it past Test nation Ireland.
There is a formidable look about the Jasprit Bumrah-led pace attack which made the most of the assistance in New York, though even when the conditions eased out during Pakistan’s chase of 120 last Sunday, they strangled the stroke-makers from across the border. Arshdeep Singh, profligate in the first two matches when he conceded 66 runs in eight overs, was practically unplayable against USA on his way to wonderful figures of 4-9, while Hardik Pandya has put his IPL woes behind him and Mohammed Siraj has been spot-on without reaping commensurate rewards.
India will want to bring Kuldeep Yadav into the fray in the expectation that spin will play a bigger part in the Caribbean than it did in New York. Spinners of various ilk have had a field day at different venues in the West Indies and worn pitches will offer them even more joy as the tournament enters its climax. Kuldeep’s last bowl in a match was against Bangladesh in the warm-up game in New York on May 31 when he sent down two overs for 15 runs. He has been wheeling away at the nets and will be keen to leave his impression once he is unleashed at some stage over the next week.
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