T20 World Cup 2021: India plays for pride against Namibia after being knocked out of semis race
India will take on Afghanistan in the final Super 12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 on Sunday. With both teams knocked out of the semis race, they play for pride.
FollowFormer champion India's race for semis came to an end on Sunday after New Zealand defeated Afghanistan to seal its place in the knockouts. On Monday, India takes on minnow Afghanistan in the final Group 2 Super 12 match of the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium, as both teams would play for pride.
Current form
India has played four games, winning and losing two matches each, while it had won both its warm-up games. As for Namibia, it has won three from four and lost the other in the Super 12, while it had won two of the three Group Stage matches besides losing one. Judging by the overall and current form, India is the favourite here.
LIVE SCORECARD: ICCÂ T20 World Cup 2021 - India vs Namibia (Group 2, Super 12)
Team strength & weaknesses, and players to watch out
As far as the sides go, India is balanced across departments, with equally distributed strengths and weaknesses. Its batters have seemingly bounced back well, while its batting has been working extra hard of late. Skipper Virat Kohli Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma are the ones who are likely to be watched out for their performance with the bat. Also, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur and Varun Chakravarthy are sure to impact with the ball.
In the meantime, Namibia has been stable too. Along with a decent batting and bowling line-up, it has a loaded all-rounder department. The players who could impact would be Craig Williams, skipper Gerhard Erasmus, David Weise, JJ Smit, Zane Green, Ben Shikongo and Bernard Scholtz.
"
Injury concerns, head-to-head, weather and pitch report
Both sides have no injury problems. It would be the first time that they would be facing each other in the format. The Dubai weather would be warm, with 32 degrees of an expected temperature and 47% humidity. The pitch would be balanced, with equal assistance for both batters and bowlers. However, with the dew factor in mind, it could play slow, while the toss-winning side would prefer chasing.
Probable XI
IND: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.
NAM: Stephan Baard, Michael van Lingen, Craig Williams, Gerhard Erasmus (c), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green (wk), Jan Frylinck and Ben Shikongo.
ALSO READ:Â T20 World Cup 2021 -Â India knocked out as New Zealand gets the better of Afghanistan by 8 wickets
Fantasy XI
Batters: Rohit (vc), Rahul (c), Erasmus- Rohit and Rahul would nail it with their perfect start, thanks to their lethal form, making them the deputy and skipper, respectively, while Erasmus can consolidate at number three or in the middle-order.
Wicketkeeper: Green has been in a constant good form and makes the cut ahead of Pant, with the latter tending towards being inconsistent.
All-rounders: Jadeja, Wiese, Smit- Jadeja is sure to deliver in every department, along with Wiese, while Smit has been consistent with the ball.
Bowlers: Shami, Bumrah, Frylinck, Trumpelmann- In an all-out pace attack, all the four have been dominant for their respective sides and is expected to remain the same in this game.
Match details
Date and day: November 8, 2021 (Monday)
Venue: Dubai International Stadium
Time: 7.30 PM (IST)
Where to watch (TV): Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 Hindi (Also available in HD, along with regional languages)
Where to watch (Online): Hotstar
