India, New Zealand to battle it out in virtual quarter-final

Dubai, Oct 30: Virat Kohli will be facing the most defining test of his captaincy career as he expects his men to be the proverbial “phoenix rising from the ashes” when India take on a street-smart New Zealand in a ‘do-or-die’ ICC T20 World Cup Super 12 game here on Sunday.
Having endured a nightmare last Sunday against Pakistan, India have a lot of course correction to do against the Kiwis, more so in getting the roles assigned for the players right.
It wont be easy against a quality New Zealand side, which will come hard at India having also lost to Pakistan in their opening game.
Tim Southee and Trent Boult, especially have been a nemesis for the Indians in big games. However, their soft underbelly is batting where Kane Williamson is still not hundred per cent and Martin Guptill also had a foot injury.
It’s effective without being flamboyant, although, Devon Conway is a flashy batter. And herein lies India’s chance but for that, their bowlers need to implement the game plans perfectly, something they couldn’t against Pakistan.
Even more important will be execution from two players on whom the team management has heavily invested – a half-fit Hardik Pandya and an out-of-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who have been the weak-links of this Indian team.
Hardik, who has not been the cricketer everyone feared since his back injury, is playing to save his India career. Bhuvneshwar could well be playing his last international tournament. His pace has dropped remarkably in the past two seasons and somewhere he has not been a patch of what his younger competitor Deepak Chahar has been in recent years.
Of late, Kohli, the skipper and Kohli, the batter haven’t been in sync like it had been in the past. Now there is a world class performer, who is ready to play the waiting game, anchor the innings and happy to bat at a strike-rate of ‘120-ish’, letting others hog the limelight.
It’s an act of self preservation which he is keeping his and Indian cricket’s best interests in mind as he is 33 and at least good six years of top-flight game still left in him.
India’s presence till the business end is not just an emotional necessity for its billion fans but also a commercial requirement for the tournament to retain its vigour.
Even after being clubbed in the easier group where three matches, including Afghanistan should literally be a walk-in-the-park for these stars who are facing the fear of an early exit from the tournament.
With Pakistan already on six points having played all their tough games (India, New Zealand and Afghanistan) in the first week of Super 12s, they are expected to steamroll Namibia and Scotland en route their expected top place finish in group 2.
This leaves both India and New Zealand in a virtual shoot-out position as whoever wins has a chance to finish on maximum eight points and grab the second place in the group.
However with the dew playing a major role in the evenings, toss is indeed playing a very crucial role in the outcome of night matches.
Kohli will be hoping to at least win the toss and may be ensure that KL Rahul and Co don’t have to face Trent Boult’s ‘break back’ swingers first up when some moisture would be on offer.
Suryakumar Yadav would like to put up a better performance and Rishabh Pant would certainly like to finish off in style after the kind of start he got against Pakistan.
Kohli faces the test of his leadership career.
India
Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar
New Zealand
Kane Williamson (C), Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Devon Conway, Tim Seifert (WK), James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Mark Chapman, Adam Milne, Kyle Jamieson, Todd Astle.
Match Starts at 7:30 pm IST. (PTI)

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