In Saturday’s final group match of the T20 World Cup, when India meet Canada in Lauderhill, their main concern will be how well the star batsman Virat Kohli’s bat has performed recently. It is hoped that it will not rain hard in the city despite severe flooding in some parts of Florida.
India have now qualified for the Super Eight tournament which would be held on different venues across West Indies after winning all their three matches.
After being outstanding at the Indian Premier League where he had over 700 runs with a strike rate above 150 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kohli joined the T20 World Cup.
So it was not completely unreasonable to expect him to keep hitting in this ICC showcase which may be his last chance of winning India an ICC World Cup within 13 years.
However, his five runs from three games and a ‘golden duck’ against USA means that he is currently averaging only 1.66 as a batsman so far.
His form gives the match against debutants Canada a compelling undercurrent and nothing else if one wishes to see it directly from India’s perspective.
Could this journey from New York to Florida comprising of roughly 1850 kilometers change fortune for Kohli who has been suffering so much since then?
The field of the stadium in Broward County is not as angry as that in New York which was noticed more for its slow outfield and non-uniform bounce of the wickets than for a few cricket matches.
He knows that it has been a lean run, but he knows that it has not affected his team’s results too much.
The front-line batsman’s poor performance has put pressure on other batsmen to score heavily for India, especially since he opens with captain Rohit Sharma.
Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant have compensated for Kohli though.
Against Pakistan and Ireland Pant scored 36 and 42 respectively enough to give India the win.
Just in time, Suryakumar overcame a shaky start to this competition by hammering an important fifty against USA.
Shivam Dube also known as “Spin Basher” has had a tough tour to USA, but with Sanju Samson plus Yashasvi Jaiswal possibly saving one more game against co-hosts, his laborious 31 off 35 balls may have gone some way towards achieving this.
If India decide, they will have to incorporate Jaiswal as an opener and push Kohli back down to the No. 3.
As well as other teams, drop-in pitches at New York have nullified the bat power for India but their bowling went like clockwork on the same wickets.
Nothing has been given by Arshdeep Singh (seven), Hardik Pandya (7) and Jasprit Bumrah (5) against the opponents. This would particularly please Arshdeep and Pandya’s management.
They both had very bad seasons in IPL and faced a lot of criticism for various reasons.
But they have moved on from all that here and now are leading India’s attack with Bumrah being relied upon heavily.
The think tank also hopes that although Mohammed Siraj has taken a wicket whereas Ravindra Jadeja hasn’t, they might still join their colleagues later on without having leaked runs.
But it shouldn’t be a surprise if the bigwigs make changes to the bowling department. They may want Yuzvendra Chahal or Kuldeep Yadav, or even both to play Canada.
In that case Jadeja and Axar Patel could be rested too.
This can also help them prepare their spin friendly attack for Super Eights in West Indies by enhancing their form in this match
However, Canada is just about there but not quite because of toughness as shown by their 12-run victory against Ireland recently World.
Players such as Aaron Johnson who opens the batting can always spring surprises on any day during these performances.
Nevertheless, Canadians may hope for too much from expected showers’ spell of disruption if they wish to stop this fine Indian team in its tracks.
