T20 World Cup | Hanging by glimmer of hope, India have Scotland in sight to stay in tournament
The buildup Hope was Team India’s strategy coming into the T20 World Cup and now, having paid a big price for it, that’s the only thing they have in their hands to qualify for the semi-finals lying in someone else’s hands. They hoped their misfiring finishers and star batsmen would find their best touch with the bat and their experience bowling lineup will find a perfect rhythm to bowl in the main draw of the event. Turned out, they could do neither and the men in blue suffered massive jolts one after another in both departments. They have to rely upon and hope that Afghanistan would defeat New Zealand but at the same time, they don’t want a big win for them for an already higher run rate for the Afghans. However, they have a task in their hands as well apart from hoping and counting good fortunes. They had to win all their last three games with a big margin to give themselves a chance to stay in the race if Afghanistan win their clash against the Blackcaps. If the Blackcaps can prevent an Afghan advance over them, it would be curtains for Virat Kohli-led side and hence, hope is pertinent for the men in blue. And, they have responded well against the same side they want to win badly in their next game. Their star openers were “brave enough” to take the attack to the opposition and their bowlers stuck to the task after getting a comfortable cushioning of big runs on the board. The might of the Indian batting unit that was anticipated by the experts and fans who rated them as one of the best teams before the start of the tournament finally arrived in their third game and they pulverise Afghanistan to secure what they wanted to achieve—a big win to boos the required run rate that was plummeted after a couple of embarrassing losses. Now, they face Scotland in the fourth challenge of the tournament and the task and aspirations of the men in blue would remain the same. They would look to go all out with the bat in case their captain’s luck refuses to come true to his calling and unleash an experienced bowling attack on an inexperienced Scotland batting lineup. But, the big question is? Can they maintain the momentum with both bat and ball after finding it the toughest way? And if they can't? Can they just do enough to stay in the contest by winning by a fair margin? Answers to all those questions will come from the bats of an experienced trio of Scotland batsmen Kyle Coetzer, Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod. Match details India vs Scotland, Match no.: 37, Super 12 Group 2 Date & Time: November 05, 06:00 PM LOCAL, 07:30 IST Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Pitch details After playing a game in Abu Dhabi, the men in blue return to Dubai where they have struggled to time the ball with balls not coming onto their bats. First, they were blown away by the swing of Shaheen Shah Afridi and then they were tied down by the slowish bowling of Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner who kept bowling away from them and never allowed them the opportunity to time the ball. There have been two major collapses of the batting order at the Dubai International Stadium but Virat Kohli and his team would rather hope and be eager to inflict those pain on the Scotland side. Team News India The men in blue preferred Ravichandran Ashwin to replace Varun Chakaravarthy who got a niggle before the game and the team management will have to do a lot of explaining to the off-spinner if they want to go back to Chakaravarhty for this game. The batting order looks settled with Suryakumar Yadav returning in the last game although not getting the opportunity to bat against Afghanistan and the Team India are all but set to field an unchanged XI. Probable XI KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah Scotland The Scottish are out of the competition but the men in blue will be wary of their giant-killer status. They ran closer to make their task easier by giving New Zealand a run for their money and only more runs than par total prevented an upset and saved the Blackcaps. Scotland have no reason to change their playing XI barring some last-minute events and it should offer some sort of challenge to India who will be desperate to make a big score once again. Probable XI George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer (c), Matthew Cross (wk), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Safyaan Sharif, Alasdair Evans, Bradley Wheal CE Fantasy XI Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Craig Williams, Ravindra Jadeja, Chris Greaves, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal Captain: KL Rahul Vice-captain: Rohit Sharma
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