New Delhi: Abhishek Sharma’s stomach infection poses a bigger threat to India than their World Cup opponents Namibia.
After a stuttering batting performance on a tacky Wankhede track in the opener against the USA, the Indian batting line-up would like to go all guns blazing on a Feroz Shah Kotla track that could be called a belter for quality teams.
At the receiving end would be Namibia, who are not expected to cause much trouble to the dominant defending champions in their second group A game of the T20 showpiece here on Thursday.
When it comes to quality, the defending champions are light years ahead of the African team which hardly looked up to scratch against fellow Associate nation the Netherlands at this very ground.
To be fair to India, the match against Namibia is more of an extended warm up tie where they would like to bat first and let the line-up get a good hit in the middle.
The gulf in quality is such that Namibia’s bowling line-up could be sent on a leather-hunt every day of the week by any of the middle level Indian state teams plying their trade in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
For India, Abhishek’s stomach infection and viral fever are concerning.
He was discharged on Wednesday after two days of hospitalisation but it won’t be advisable to put him on the park without allowing him to sufficiently recuperate before the big game against Pakistan on Sunday.
In that high-voltage showdown, Abhishek’s presence would be an intimidating factor for the opposition.
The Namibia match could be a God-sent opportunity for an out-of-form Sanju Samson to get into run-scoring mode after a string of failures that saw him lose his place to Ishan Kishan, who is going through a purple patch.
“Sanju is feeling well again, understanding where he fits into the scheme of things now as an injury replacement,” assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate said at pre-match press conference.
“He’s a solid guy, he’s good around the group, he’s training well and that’s what we expect from everyone in the team.”
For Namibia to stop a batting line-up like India will be an arduous task. Even more challenging for their batters will be to face Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy and Hardik Pandya in tandem.
Out of the top six, only all-rounder JJ Smit has a strike rate of 140 plus while none of the others in the top-five cross the par strike rate figure acceptable in today’s day and age.
To face Chakravarthy could be a massive challenge for the Namibian team as they normally don’t face operators of such high calibre.
“He’s actually worked on a few new deliveries which you’ll sort of see rolled out in various stages,” Ten Doeschate hinted that Namibia match could be a platform for beta testing.
The scheduling team of ICC, along with the broadcasters, who very rightly get to call the shots, have ensured that save the commercial cash cow game against Pakistan, the rest of the league stage matches are against teams who will even lose to an India A, B or C team in this format.
A third-string India A team had dismissed Namibia for less than a 100 in a warm up tie before the tournament.
Even if Pakistan match goes haywire, India would eventually make it to Super Eight where the real test starts.
Even there, grouping is such that India would face neither Australia nor South Africa if they happen to reach the semi-final.
When it comes to scheduling, choice of venues, match timings and groupings, the commercial compulsions have ensured that till the semi-final, it would be a cakewalk for Men in Blue.
If they are in competition till the second last day, it will be all about a bit of luck and a lot of pluck. For now, it is Namibia’s time to get rolled over.
