NEW DELHI, June 4
There is no doubt that the 2024 Lok Sabha poll results will attract Page 1 headlines on Wednesday, but far from the political slugfest, there is another exciting battle on the cards that could keep India glued to TV sets on Wednesday.
The heartbreak of November 19, 2023 is still very fresh for every Indian cricket fan even as the cricket team gears up for another shot at glory when the Rohit Sharma-led side takes on a plucky Ireland in their first Group A match of the T20 World Cup in New York.
The poignant sight from the Narendra Modi Stadium on that fateful November evening, when Rohit Sharma desperately tried to hide his welled-up eyes from the TV cameras as he quietly climbed the steps of the dressing room.
There was also Virat Kohli, who even after scoring those 765 invaluable runs, had to satisfy himself with the runner-up medal. Both Rohit and Kohli have individually laid their hands on the global silverware, but the other senior pros in the Indian team, like Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja will be desperate to finally find themselves a part of a champion team when the Indian team officially starts their campaign on Wednesday. Even as the Indian selectors reposed faith in their most experienced lot, despite the current batch faltering at the final two hurdles way too many times, it remains to be seen whether they can finally get over the line in the knockouts.
Having comfortably won the warm-up contest against Bangladesh, the Indian team has got a fair idea about the nature of the virgin wickets in the US, and as is clear from the games so far, run-scoring won’t be as easy as was during the Indian Premier League the last couple of months. Heading into the contest against a gutsy Irish side, and isn’t exactly a minnow in this format, it will be interesting to see whether India persist with the tried and tested combination at the top of the order or promote Kohli to open with Rohit, sacrificing Yashasvi Jaiswal.
In the practice game, India’s experiment to open with Sanju Samson didn’t materialise, but Rishabh Pant’s batting at No.3 was like a breath of fresh air. But with Kohli back in the mix, it remains to be seen whether Pant bats down the order to accommodate Jaiswal at the top. The other positive from India’s warmup game was the form of Hardik Pandya with both the bat and ball, and he would be raring to have a cracker of a World Cup to drag himself out of a low phase in the last couple of months. At the Cantiague Park nets on Monday, Pandya was spotted bowling to Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit, and if he can bowl at least three overs every match, the team can also look to play Shivam Dube and include an extra spinner in the line-up.
On a slow track and a sub-par outfield at the Nassau County ground, the key to India’s success could be to handle Irish left-arm spinner George Dockrell. Besides Dockrell, the Irish side boasts of a number of experienced campaigners in Paul Stirling, Josh Little, Harry Tector, Andy Balbirnie, who will be keen on creating an upset, especially after managing to beat Pakistan at home very recently.
Little also is fresh from his IPL stint with the Gujarat Titans and the troika of Balbirnie, Stirling and Tector are more than reliable rolling their arms.
Having said that, the Irish team is also expected to face an uphill task from the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Jadeja, apart from the Indian pace unit.
All said and done, a comfortable win against the ‘Green Shirts’ on Wednesday will give Rohit & Co the much-needed momentum before they take on the more famous Men-in-Green in the high-octane June 9 clash at the same venue.
