Two wins, an injured opener and a weather threat, could things look any bad for India as they prepare to take on one of the early pace setters at the 2019 ICC World Cup, New Zealand. But that’s the reality that Virat Kohli and side will be up against on Thursday at Trent Bridge.
India were comfortably beaten by the Kiwis in their first warm up match last month with Trent Boult destroying the famed Indian batting line up. Head coach Ravi Shastri and the rest of the support staff will have to find out ways of dealing with the New Zealand pacers and find answers for the batsmen to tackle the swing in Nottingham.
Assistant Coach, @ImSanjayBangar throws light on @SDhawan25's injury status ⛑️ #TeamIndia #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/G8dcaQCUTF
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 12, 2019
However, with Dhawan set to miss the tie after he injured his finger during their win over Australia, it’d be interesting to see how the team management reacts to the situation at hand. Some suggests that KL Rahul is likely to be promoted up the order to open the innings along with Rohit Sharma, with either Dinesh Karthik or Vijay Shankar taking up the No. 4 role, while there are also rumours that MS Dhoni could take up the No. 4 role with Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya following him down the order.
India trail the Black Caps 3-4 in the head-to-head count at the World Cup with their last win coming 16 years ago in the 2003 World Cup which was also the last time they had met in a World Cup. India however, are ahead in the overall head-to-head record against the Kiwis in one-day internationals with 51 wins out of 101 meetings. New Zealand have 44 wins to their credit so far.
Its raining tomorrow at Trent bridge Cricket stadium. 3 PM to 7:30 PM IST . #INDvsNZ , match could be abandoned. What a worst venue #ICC choosed for its tournaments of 2017and 2019 . pic.twitter.com/a5MXR2ePV1
— Mukesh Bhardwaj🇮🇳 (@mukesh_jaihind) June 12, 2019
But that number should barely matter, especially with the kind of start the Kiwis have had to the competition. New Zealand currently lead the points table with three wins from as many games. And if that was not enough, their leading bowlers, Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry lead the bowling charts as well, with 15 wickets between them in the tournament so far. And with Jimmy Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme providing able support, Kane Williamson has enough bowling options as he'll be up against a strong Indian batting line-up.
However, it’s the middle-order that could be a little troublesome for Williamson. With the top order doing the bulk of the scoring so far, it remains to be seen how the middle-order responds to the challenge posed by the Indian bowlers. But for now, all one can hope for an entertaining game of cricket that could hopefully last for 100 overs.
Feature image courtesy: AFP Photo/ Dibyangshu Sarkar
