Chennai, Feb 25 (.) Despite concerns over the form of the failing top orders, losing clutch f wickets in the power play, fierce hitter Sanju Samson was most likely to figure in the playing XI as a battered India take onZimbabwe in a do or die battle with the semifinal berth stake in the T20 World Cup contest at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here tomorrow.
The matter of concern was the failure of the top order putting more pressure in pacing in the middle overs, an issue that needs to be addressed quickly.
Both defending champions India and Zimbabwe, which has emerged a giant killer, were unbeaten in the league phase, but faced stunning reverses in their first Super 8 matches, losing by a big margin.
Ahead of the key contest, Indian batting coach Sitanshu Kota said hinted of including Sanju in the mix of things, with reports saying the Rinku Singh was likely to re-join the team later today after he left to meet his ailing father.
Despite dashing opner Abhishek Sharma miserably failing with three ducks and a just 15 in the last encounter, besides Tilak Verma too finding his moorings, Kotak dismissed the talk of a single individual( Abhishek) and said the team was playing with two all-rounders and six batters.”
The Indian team would be keen to see that Abhishek returns back to his much wanton power hitting to give the team a head start making full use of the field restrictions in the power play, which Ishan Kishan joining the party.
The possible inclusion of Sanju would very well strengthen the struggling top order, besides adding extra cushion.
After concerns were raised about resting left arm all rounder Axar Patel in the key contest against the Proteas, which lost badly, struggling to control the run riot, he too was likely to be in the scheme of things, but at whose expense whether it would be offie allrounder Washington Sundar or wrist spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who was off colour in the previous contest.
While the pipe opener against USA was the wake up call, thanks to skipper Surya Kumar Yadav’s recovery and the jitteries against the Dutch team, the loss against South Africa came as a rude jolt as India suffered it first defeat in the tournament.
Speaking on the match eve, Kotak said “There can be changes, yes. It goes without saying that we discussed [team combination]. The opposition is bowling off-spin because our openers and No. 3 are lefties. I don’t think that there is any problem there either. But because we lost the last game and we have lost a wicket in the first over [often], any team would think [along those lines]”.
. GV 2230