(Cricket news) In a dead rubber match India will take on a spirited Namibian side who showed the world that they actually belong in the biggest stage of all. With Afghanistan losing yesterday, this became their weakest performance in an ICC event since 2012 and it also marks Virat Kohil’s final game as T20 captain.
For India, the players will treat this match as a dress rehearsal for the upcoming New Zealand series, Rahul Chahar could be included in the playing XI as he is the only squad member not to get playing time. Going hard at the top has been a revelation for the team in the last two matches, both KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are utilizing the powerplay to their advantage. In the bowling department, India will most likely go into the match with three spinners, with the match held in Dubai the spinners will get more assistance off the pitch. One thing Indian batters need to be wary of is Namibia’s reliance on their pacers, with three of their four best performers in the Super 12s being left-arm quicks.
Namibia should take pride as they have pushed the big teams to their limits and punched way above their calibre. The tall and scrappy fast bowler Ruben Trumpelmann could ruffle a few feathers against the India openers if swing is on the offer, we have seen KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma being susceptible against left arm bowlers. David Wiese will again be the man to lead them from the front with the wealth of experience he has playing this format, his allround performance is something that the Namibian side have not only relied on in the qualifier but also in the super 12s.
Head to head: This is the first time India will face Namibia in T20’s, the only other time they faced each other was in the 50-over World Cup of 2003.
Pitch and weather report: The Dubai pitch has thrown some curveballs but the trend of winning the toss and batting second will likely continue. India's bowling coach Bharat Arun is not on board with "Toss should not be of any consequence in a short format like this," he declared,
There could be some swing on offer with the new ball and as the ball gets older spinners will come into the game. The temperature is going to hover around 32 degrees as dew may come into factor in the second innings.
Interesting facts:
- India will be playing their 150th T20I match
- India have averaged less than 15 and have scored at only 5.7 per over against left-arm pace in the powerplay since 2020
- Namibia pacers have bowled almost 74% of the total overs in the super 12s
- Rohit Sharma needs 18 runs to become the third batter to complete 3000 T20I runs
- KL Rahul is set to bat in his 50th T20I innings
Also read: India ousted as New Zealand clinch semifinal spot with comprehensive win over Afghans
Probable XI for India:
1 KL Rahul, 2 Rohit Sharma/Ishan Kishan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Mohammed Shami/Shardul Thakur, 10 Jasprit Bumrah/Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Rahul Chahar/Varun Chakravathy
Probable XI for Namibia:
1 Stephan Baard, 2 Michael van Lingen, 3 Craig Williams, 4 Gerhard Erasmus (capt), 5 David Wiese, 6 JJ Smit, 7 Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, 8 Zane Green (wk), 9 Jan Frylinck/Karl Birkenstock, 10 Ruben Trumpelmann, 11 Ben Shikongo/Bernard Scholtz
