In 2015, India played South Africa in the ODI World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was packed in a sea of blue as 75000 fans turned out for the game. Among them, only a handful were adorned in the Proteas’ green and gold, as the Indian fans painted up the MCG.
A similar story is expected to unfold at the MCG on Sunday. Much like India-Pakistan, it has been sold out, with 85000-plus fans expected to turn up. Much like 2015, you can expect only a handful of Zimbabwean fans on Sunday. There will be a stark contrast to the opening Sunday of this tournament though. At India versus Pakistan, the fan’s split was 60-40. So it wasn’t a capacity crowd singing the national anthem. This Sunday, it will be. Expect the roar to be louder and to shake up the very foundations of Melbourne City.
South Africa vs Netherlands Live Cricket Score
Of course, the thing with India traveling anywhere – especially overseas – is that fans cannot stop themselves from coming out for the team’s practice either. More than 2000 fans had turned up for India’s practice before the Pakistan game, and it quickly turned into a shouting contest amongst the two groups of supporters. For a Zimbabwe game, the number went down but still, nearly 500-1000 supporters gathered at the MCG nets on Saturday.
And all of them had the only thing on their mind – Happy Birthday Virat Kohli. They sang, when he came out of the indoor nets, when he padded up, when he batted when he just stood there chatting with his teammates, and whatever else he did. While the fans’ attention parted to different players batting and/or bowling, the cynosure of all eyes was Kohli.
From the team’s perspective, it was a busy session. Post the Pakistan game, there have been other optional sessions but this had more bustle about it. This is the last game before the knockouts, so you don’t want to leave anything to chance. Not to mention, there are a few things to iron out for the first-team players. Rohit Sharma, for example, had his first net session in two weeks. The last time he had batted in the nets was two days before the Pakistan game.
Apart from the fast bowlers, and Axar Patel, almost everyone turned up for Saturday’s session at the MCG. Hardik Pandya caught the eye – he batted, and batted, and then batted some more. It’s not like he was working to regain his touch or form, or even get his eye in. The shots were flowing well. He was striking the ball as if batting in the middle of the MCG. He looked good and yet spent over 45 minutes batting. Perhaps he needed to get his juices flowing, having not made an impact with the bat in previous games, especially against Bangladesh.
ALSO READ | IND vs ZIM T20 World Cup 2022 Weather Report
KL Rahul batted too, as did Deepak Hooda, R Ashwin, as well as Dinesh Karthik, and Harshal Patel. Two others caught the eye though. First, Yuzvendra Chahal padded up and had a hitting session. It was peculiar because Chahal has been present at every net session on this tour, optional or otherwise. And until now, he had never batted in any practice session on this trip.
Seeing him batting in the nets, an obvious conclusion formed. If India were to make changes, this has to be the game. Think of it – going into the knockouts, they would want all their players ready and with game time under their belts. There was reasoning not to do this earlier – they wanted to play the same combination and get sufficient momentum going. And they have done so, with India on the cusp of qualification.
A simple defeat to Zimbabwe would not knock out India unless Pakistan beats Bangladesh, and even then mathematical equations would come into the picture to see if Bangladesh has a high enough run rate. Of course, South Africa also needs to beat the Netherlands for India to be under any threat, should it lose to Zimbabwe. Quite unlikely, and on any random day, any Indian side ought to have the wherewithal to beat Zimbabwe. Especially in front of 85000 fans!
And so, this is the time to ring in the changes. Chahal seems likely to play, and with Ashwin going great guns, Patel would miss out. Harshal Patel is also knocking on the door, even if it is less likely that Mohammed Shami will be rested. In either case, does this mean India would again have an all right-handed batting line-up? Not quite.
Just like Chahal, Pant looked exceptionally busy. Barring Adelaide, he has been present in all training sessions, as the team management had told him to be ready just in case. Yet, he had never both batted and done keeping drills in any one session. He did both on Saturday.
Karthik too looked far less busy than he usually does, and did not bat with the same intensity in the nets as before. Pant coming in for Karthik makes sense at this juncture, again for the above reasoning. You need all your players with game time under the belt heading into the knockouts, and Pant hasn’t featured yet. That India can afford to leave him out on the bench is both a reminder of its immense talent pool as well as a debate on whether it’s the right strategy.
ALSO READ | T20 World Cup 2022, Group 2 Semi-final Scenario: Team India One Win Away, Pakistan Still in the Race
Pant playing on Sunday wouldn’t undermine the original tactic – Karthik will return for the semis. It’s just that if you want to give Pant game time, it is now. And you cannot ask him to straightaway play in the knockouts after twiddling his thumbs the entire tournament. The next week is going to be an intense lottery, whether against New Zealand in Sydney or against England in Adelaide.
And India will have to play exceptionally well to revisit MCG again next Sunday.
Get the latest Cricket News, Schedule and Cricket Live Scores here