Big picture: Distraction over, India eyed fireworks
No matter how good you are or how likely you are to win or how you give the schedule, a World Cup brings its own unique challenges and stakes, especially at home, especially given the current geopolitics of the region in which this home is.
India have been comfortable winners in all three matches so far, but have yet to unleash the style of play they want.
The last of these three matches was one in which India had to lose everything. Nothing surrounded on the game
against Pakistan in terms of progress or whoever they face in the Super Eight, but still they could not afford to lose. Such overwhelming favorites losing to underdogs in the current geopolitical climate would have been hugely beyond the scope of this tournament. However, a win merely confirmed their status as the favourites.
Now India will look to go back to try to score big. They have yet to score more than 209 despite batting first in all three matches. Ahmedabad at night is the perfect environment for them. Four of the last five overnight first innings in Ahmedabad have been 210-plus.
The Netherlands will want to prove they are not just props, a vehicle to see how much India can push the boundaries of what scores are absurd. They were within one shot of beating Pakistan, they beat Namibia, and will want to show they are no pushovers.
India will want to bat first should they win the toss, but it will be interesting to see if the Netherlands want to avoid an impossible target or do what teams do to give themselves the best chance of winning on the night in Ahmedabad.
India WWWWLW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
The Netherlands LWLLL
Spotlight: Abhishek Sharma and Aryan Dutt
He is the best T20 batsman in the world but
Abhishek Sharma‘s initiation to the World Cup was an inauspicious one: golden duck, stomach bug, four-ball duck. And that says nothing about Abhishek’s skill or temperament. It’s just one of those things. But Abhishek will want to get that out of the way so that it doesn’t weigh on him in the Super Eight.
Netherlands will borrow from Abhishek’s first two dismissals in the World Cup. As it is, they like to open the bowling with an off-spinner
Aryan Dutt. After Salman Agha tied Abhishek for three balls and got him off the fourth, this belief will be reaffirmed. However, note that Ahmedabad is not Colombo. You can trust yourself to clear the infield on this batting paradise.
Team News: Arshdeep to replace Kuldeep?
Barring Harshit Rana’s last-minute injury and withdrawal from the tournament, all other availability issues India faced have now been sorted out. The only change they are likely to make is to return
Arshdeep Singh before
Kuldeep Yadav on the faster Ahmedabad surface.
India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (captain), 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Jasprit 11 Bumrah, 10 Jasprit 11 Bumrah.
The Netherlands alternated between Timm van der Gugten and Kyle Klein in their first three games. Paul van Meekeren played just one of his three games, making way for left-arm quick Fred Klaasen. It will eventually come down to two out of three quick.
The Netherlands (probable): 1 Michael Levitt, 2 Max O’Dowd, 3 Bas de Leede, 4 Colin Ackermann, 5 Scott Edwards (capt & wk), 6 Zach Lion-Cachet, 7 Logan van Beek, 8 Aryan Dutt, 9 Roelof van der Merwe, 10 and 11 two from Kyle Klein, Klakkerassen and Paul Fred Meekerassen.
Ahmedabad lived up to its reputation for runs. There have been two evening games there so far. South Africa made 213 in one, New Zealand looked good to get there but collapsed twice to finish with 175, which was woefully inadequate.
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