India is more at risk from Abhishek Sharma’s stomach ailment than from its World Cup rivals Namibia. The Indian batting lineup would like to go all guns blazing on a Feroz Shah Kotla track that may be referred to as a belter for quality teams after a faltering batting performance on a sticky Wankhede track in the opening match against the USA.
The Indian batting lineup would like to go all guns blazing on a Feroz Shah Kotla track that may be referred to as a belter for quality teams after a faltering batting performance on a sticky Wankhede track in the opening match against the USA. In terms of quality, the reigning champions are far superior to Namibia, which barely competed at the same site against neighboring Associate nation the Netherlands.
To be fair, India would want to bat first and give the lineup a nice hit in the middle of the game against Namibia, which is more of a lengthy warm-up match. The disparity in quality is so great that any of the middle-tier Indian state sides competing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy could send Namibia’s bowling lineup on a leather-hunt every day of the week.
Abhishek’s hospitalization due to a viral fever and gastrointestinal ailment is alarming for India. It won’t be wise to bring him on the field before giving him enough time to recover before Sunday’s vital match against Pakistan, where Abhishek’s presence is a major intimidating element for the opposition, even if he is released on Wednesday.
Following a run of poor performances that cost him his spot to Ishan Kishan, who is going through a purple patch, the Namibia game may be a godsend for an out-of-shape Sanju Samson to come back into run-scoring form.
It will be difficult for Namibia to halt a batting lineup like India. Their batters will find it even more difficult to contend with Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Hardik Pandya, and Jasprit Bumrah all at once.
Only all-rounder JJ Smit has a strike rate of 140 or higher out of the top six, while none of the other players in the top five surpass the par striking rate that is considered acceptable in the modern era.
Since the Namibian squad rarely faces operators of this caliber, facing Chakravarthy might be extremely difficult.
In a pre-tournament warm-up match, a third-string India A squad had bundled out Namibia for less than 100.
Teams (from):
India: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd Siraj, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Rinku Singh
Namibia: Gerhard Erasmus (captain), Jan Balt, Zane Green (wk), Malan Kruger, Dylan Leicher, Lauren Steenkamp, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, William Myburgh, JJ Smit, Jack Brassel, Max Heingo, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo, Ruben Trumpelmann
