http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 v India – ICC World Twenty20 2012 (Group A) – Match Preview [Part 2]
Continued from Part 1 ...
On the Indian front, the match against Afghanistan provides the Men in Blue a chance to build some momentum and set an aggressive tone for the rest of their World T20 campaign, following a string of poor performances.
India have had an erratic year in terms of the T20 format of the game – after having drawn a 2-match series 1-1 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 in a T20I played at home, just before flying to Sri Lanka for the ICC World Twenty20.
The warm-up matches prior to the mega event have seen India defeating hosts http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013, which provides the team further impetus for starting the tournament on the right foot.
While their line-up boasts a formidable batting order, the bowling attack has faced several issues, and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 will need to make sure they do not take Afghanistan lightly, owing not only to the unpredictability of the T20 format, but also due to the potentially powerful batting line-up their opponents posses.
The Indian batting order poses a formidable picture, and the line-up features veterans Virender Sehwag, and Gautam Gambhir (the team’s most successful batsman in the format, with 755 runs to his credit) as openers. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Kohli-c2737 bolsters the line-up at number 3 – having earned a fearsome reputation as a hard-hitting young batsman, with 13 ODI centuries to his credit, Kohli has yet to reach triple figures in the T20 format of the game, and will be looking to set the record straight during the World T20.
Yuvraj Singh, having made a decent comeback against New Zealand after recovering from lung cancer, will be looking to cement his place in the squad once again, and return to his old heroic ways, having won the Player of the Tournament award in India’s 2011 World Cup victory. Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma (who was selected despite poor form, and went on to justify the selection with recent scores of 37 and 56), and skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 complete the remainder of the line-up, which features 7 batsmen.
While the batting poses no problems, the bowling, as skipper Dhoni admitted, has been “a bit of a concern” for India.
“Our bowling line-up is slightly weaker than our batting. But we have experienced bowlers who can do the needful and also the part-timers,” said the skipper, going on to explain the plan for the tournament. “We are looking to play with seven batsmen to start off the tournament which means the part-timers will have to do a really good job so that we can sustain with those seven batsmen. Otherwise, as the tournament progresses and [if] we still find that our bowling line-up is a bit too weak, we will have to go with six batters and five bowlers.”
The team employed 5 specialist bowlers during the warm-up games, but the move led to mixed results – while they managed to defeat Sri Lanka, the bowling attack failed miserably against Pakistan. The team will now be kicking off the tournament with 4 bowlers, in addition to banking on part-timers such as Yuvraj.
Ravichandran Ashwin is bound to be India’s pick of the spinners – while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755, conceding 40 in four overs. Ashwin, however, remained the only bowler who managed to make any dents in the opposition’s batting order, claiming 4 for 23.
The pace trio is likely to consist of veteran http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Z-Khan-c98379 (who will be looking to improve, after giving away 31 in three overs against Pakistan), and comeback pacer Irfan Pathan (who will be playing as one of the specialist bowlers).
Medium-pacer Pathan is India’s most successful bowler in the T20 format, with 23 wickets at an average of 21.60 from 19 matches. He made an outstanding comeback earlier this month, bagging 8 scalps during the 5-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, 3 for 27 in the only T20I, 3 for 31 against New Zealand, and 5 for 25 during the World T20 warm-up against Sri Lanka. However, he bled 40 for 0 against Pakistan – a performance he will be eager to put behind him.
The third pacer India employ could be either Lakshmipathy Balaji (who claimed 3 for 28 against Sri Lanka, but leaked 32 precious runs during his last two overs against Pakistan), or http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashok-Dinda-c1098.
The temperature in Colombo today is expected to be around 26 - 29° C, with a forecast for scattered thunderstorms. Groundsmen at the R Premadasa will be hoping to ensure that the surface is a livelier one as compared to the low and slow corner strip at the same venue, on which the warm-up between India and Pakistan was played.
Afghanistan playing XI (probable):
1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Izatullah-Dawlatzai-c1609
India playing XI (probable):
1 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lakshmipathy-Balaji-c72130/Ashok Dinda
Tags: