NEW DELHI: When India play
Canada
in their final group match in the
T20 World Cup
at
Lauderhill
on Saturday, they will be worried about star batsman
Virat Kohli
's recent poor performance. Hopefully, the sky will stay clear in the city despite the fact that severe rain is destroying sections of Florida.
India have advanced to the Super Eight stage, which will take place entirely in the West Indies, after three straight victories.
T20 WORLD CUP: SCHEDULE | POINTS TABLE
After lighting up the Indian Premier League, where he amassed more than 700 runs at a strike-rate of 150 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kohli entered the T20 World Cup.
So, it wasn't totally unrealistic to hope that he would keep hitting in the ICC showcase, which could be his last opportunity to win India an ICC World Cup in 13 years.
After three games, though, and a "Golden Duck" against the USA, Kohli has amassed five runs at 1.66.
His form has given the match against tournament newcomers Canada an intriguing undercurrent, but other than that, it's meaningless, at least for India.
Maybe an 1850-kilometer journey from New York to Florida could result in a change of fortune for Kohli, who must be suffering after those unremarkable performances.
The Broward County stadium's field may not be as resentful as the one in New York, where the outfield's slowness and the tracks' irregular bounce became more talked about features than the actual cricket match.
The fact that the team's results have not been significantly impacted by the lean run would relieve some of the strain on him.
But the top batsman's poor performance has put some pressure on the other batsmen to lead the India score, especially as he is opening with captain
Rohit Sharma
.
To their credit, Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant have more than made up for Kohli.
Against Pakistan and Ireland, Pant scored 36 and 42, respectively, which was sufficient to lead India to victory.
Just in time, Suryakumar overcame a tentative start to the competition to make a vital fifty against the USA.
Shivam Dube, also known as "Spin Basher," has struggled since coming to the US, but he may have been able to salvage another game against the co-hosts, Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal, despite his laborious 31 off 35 balls.
According to PTI, India will need to insert Jaiswal as an opener and move Kohli back to the No. 3 position if they choose to do so.
The drop-in pitches in New York have neutralized India's batting power, as they have for other teams as well, but their bowling functioned like a well-oiled machine on those same tracks.
Arshdeep Singh (seven wickets),
Hardik Pandya
(seven wickets), and
Jasprit Bumrah
(five wickets), have not offered the opposing batters anything. The management would be especially happy with Pandya and Arshdeep's performances.
They both had terrible IPL seasons and faced harsh criticism for a variety of reasons.
Here, though, they have moved past all of that to lead India's assault alongside the dependable Bumrah.
The think tank also hopes that, even though neither Mohammed Siraj (who has taken a wicket) nor
Ravindra Jadeja
(who has not taken a wicket) have leaked runs, they would eventually join their colleagues.
It won't come as a complete surprise, though, if the bigwigs make some adjustments to the bowling department. They may consider giving Yuzvendra Chahal or
Kuldeep Yadav
, or perhaps both, a chance to face Canada.
In that scenario, Jadeja and Axar Patel might be rested.
Additionally, it can aid in the bowling unit's preparation for the Super Eights in the Caribbean, where more spin-friendly pitches are anticipated.
However, as they demonstrated during their 12-run victory over Ireland, Canada is a little up in earshot but not without tenacity.
On their day, players like Aaron Johnson, who opens the game, can surprise everyone.
However, the Canadians may be relying too much on the anticipated spell of disrupting rains to be able to stop this excellent Indian side in its tracks.
About 50 kilometers separate Lauderhill from Miami, which has been dealing with flash floods brought on by a tropical storm. This presents a concern for the showpiece's organizers, who want to carve out room for cricket in the American market.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj
Canada: Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Dilon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Rishiv Joshi, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur (wk), Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan, Shreyas Movva (wk)
Match starts at 8 PM IST
English (US) ·