India vs Namibia T20 World Cup cricket match, in New Delhi, India (AP Photo)
NEW DELHI: For a powerhouse team like India, matches against teams like Namibia are more about identifying chinks in their game. Namibia, a team made of mostly amateur cricketers, did expose some underlying concerns in the Indian team even as they spent most of the night at the Arun Jaitley Stadium being heavily outplayed.
India did pile up 209/9 batting first and register a comprehensive 93-run win. The bowlers restored normalcy after Namibia got off to a flyer in the chase, scoring 67/1 in the first seven overs to bowl out the minnows for 116. The bowlers just did what was expected of them.
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But were they absolutely convincing with the bat against the so-called ‘whipping boys’ of this T20 World Cup? The answer won’t be a resounding yes. The Kotla pitch, having endured an unending cricket season since the last IPL, expectedly offered some grip and turn for the bowlers. Barring Ishan Kishan’s 24-ball 61 and Hardik Pandya’s 28-ball 52, the overwhelming dominance expected against Namibia was missing. This match was India’s final preparation before the high-pressure game against Pakistan in Colombo on Sunday. Coming into the tournament, India’s batting hinged largely on Abhishek Sharma’s consistent assault on the new ball at the top of the game. As he missed Thursday’s match due to weakness after a stomach illness, Sanju Samson wasted one more opportunity to reassure the team management in case Abhishek fails to gain fitness for the Pakistan game.
Samson’s eight-ball 22 may appear as it fit the template of the India’s batting in the Powerplay. That he fell into the trap laid by the Namibians so easily will remain a concern. Samson put away the two short balls from Ben Shikongo in the second over deep into the stands at the square-leg boundary with consummate ease. Shikongo offered another short delivery with a little more effort only for Samson to miscue it to the hands of the deep mid-wicket fielder stationed particularly for that one shot. Ishan will need more support from the other end against a more seasoned Pakistan bowling on the evidently sluggish pitch at the Premadasa in Colombo. The Indian team management revealed they have altered their attack-at-all-times approach and handed the anchor role to Tilak Varma at No. 3 and Suryakumar Yadav at No. 4 to control the middle overs. It seemed the duo got overtly consumed by that idea. As the pitch started to hold a little, Tilak and Surya almost happily went into their shells.
The team that built its brand around not caring about risks, suddenly showed symptoms of complete aversion to taking risks. Tilak’s scratchy 21-ball 25-run innings came to an end when his first attempt to go big resulted in miscuing Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus’ slingy off-spin delivery to long-off. Surya too was flummoxed by left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz as he tried to step out and got comprehensively stumped by wicketkeeper Zane Green for an unconvincing 13-ball 12.
India scoring just 20 runs off Erasmus and losing two wickets in four overs may not be the ideal result keeping Pakistan’s unconventional off-spinner Umar Tarique in mind. It was Hardik’s burst clean and straight hitting burst that got India rolling again after suffering a mini collapse from 104/1 to 124/4. The big flourish never came beyond Hardik’s blade. It wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on by any stretch of imagination. But one expects a experienced batting lineup to counter it much better against a bowling attack which is still getting used to international cricket. Over to Colombo now!
