T20 World Cup: India v Namibia – Preview, how to watch, team news and prediction
India take on Namibia at the T20 World Cup tomorrow. Read our in-depth preview here...
India’s stodgy display against the United States on Saturday has retrained the focus and assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate says the players now realise “we’re in a World Cup”.
Defending champions and tournament co-hosts, India were expected to breeze past the US in their opening game in Mumbai at the weekend. But, had it not been for a captain’s knock of 84 not out from Suryakumar Yadav, India would have been in real trouble.
They ended up making 161 for nine from their 20 overs before restricting the US to 132 for eight, completing a 29-run win.
India take on Namibia in their second Group A outing tomorrow and Ten Doeschate admits the USA game came as a “wake-up” call.
He told cricinfo: “We want to play a certain way of cricket, and now it does feel like a better World Cup. I think that first outing in Mumbai was a nice shake-up, a nice wake-up. When you find yourself 77 for six, you realise you’re starting the World Cup defence. We certainly know we’re in a World Cup now.”
The failure of India’s batting line-up – only four men reached double figures – means the pressure is on against the African nation in Delhi.
“Modern-day batter’s instinct is to hit every ball and hit for a six,” ten Doeschate said. “There are times where you have to apply yourself. And I thought that wicket in Mumbai did call out for a bit more application and maybe a change in strategy. Particularly, the situations we found ourselves in, losing three wickets in the last over of the powerplay and then being six down at 70, did need an adaptation.
“And this format, if you’re shooting for 250 all the time, you’re going to make mistakes and we have to accept that. It’s almost an admissible mistake, which we allow for. But judging how the wickets have played in these first five or six days of the tournament, there might be a slight revision in strategy and how we go about things.”
Namibia come into the contest having lost their opener against the Netherlands by seven wickets.
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Team News for India v Namibia
India’s Washington Sundar is fit after overcoming a side strain, as is Jasprit Bumrah following an illness. Opener Abhishek Sharma is unlikely to be risked having been discharged from hospital this morning following a stomach infection.
Namibia are likely to make just one change with 17-year-old paceman Max Heingo dropping out in favour of the more experienced Ben Shikongo.
Predicted line-ups for India v Namibia
India: Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy
Namibia: Louren Steenkamp, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (c), JJ Smit, Zane Green (wk), Dylan Leicher, Willem Myburgh, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo
How to watch India v Namibia
India versus Namibia starts at 1.30pm UK time tomorrow afternoon. The T20 World Cup will be shown exclusively live in the UK on Sky Sports. You can stream it on the Sky Go app.
For coverage elsewhere in the world, click HERE for details of your local rights holder.
Prediction for India v Namibia
India were out of sorts against the United States but it’s unlikely to happen again. They have too much quality to produce another sub-standard display and it could turn into a very long evening for Namibia.
Expect India to win and to win well. The only downside is that will increase expectation among their legion of fans, but that is a familiar feeling for Yadav and Co.