T20 World Cup, India vs Namibia: Preview, stats, and more
The Indian cricket team will take on Namibia in the final Super 12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup on Monday in Dubai. India are currently placed third in Group 2 and have the best NRR. However, if New Zealand beat Afghanistan today, India will crash out of the tournament. Virat Kohli's men will look to finish on a high. Here's more.
Key details about the match
The match is set to be held at the Dubai International Stadium at 7:30 PM IST. The live telecast of the match will be on the Star Sports Network and one can stream the same on the Hotstar app (paid subscription). Chasing will be the preferred option at this venue. The pitch will assist batters as bowlers too would get the desired help.
India will aim to finish strongly
After losing their first two matches, Team India beat Afghanistan and Scotland in an emphatic fashion to get the NRR soaring. However, India need a favor from Afghanistan to make it to the semis. Given New Zealand's pedigree, this seems a difficult ask. What India will want is to finish strongly and get the boxes ticked. India will be backed to do well.
Namibia cannot let India run away with the game
Namibia will be aiming to give a good account of themselves and not get outplayed like Scotland. They have a decent team and are learning the trades quickly. Namibia have a stiff test ahead of them against an Indian team which has now peaked. Keeping the Indian openers at bay upfront will be challenging. They cannot let India run away with the game.
A look at the top performers
Rohit Sharma has amassed 2,982 runs in T20Is at 32.41. The senior opener is 18 shy of becoming just the third batter with 3,000-plus T20I runs after Virat Kohli and Martin Guptill. KL Rahul (1,697) needs three more to get to 1,700 T20I runs, becoming the fourth Indian to do so. Namibia's SJ Baard (572) is 28 shy of amassing 600 runs (third player).
A look at the probable XI of both teams
India probable XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah Namibia probable XI: Gerhard Erasmus(c), Stephan Baard, Michael van Lingen, Craig Williams, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Zane Green (wk), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Ruben Trumpelmann, Ben Shikongo
