Dubai: After losing their first matches against Pakistan, India and New Zealand are ready to walk the Charles Darwin's 'Survival of the Fittest' line on the cricket pitch in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Super 12 game here on Sunday.
The outcome of tomorrow's match might decide which of the two sides will progress into the knockout stage from the group, as the other three teams have remote chances of qualifying into the next round.
Pakistan already are well on course to qualify for the knockouts, after defeating India and New Zealand in the group matches.
For Virat Kohli, it is an hour to reckon as he is playing his last tournament as India's T20 captain. Therefore, he is not the one who would say bye without leaving a mark.
As the world has witnessed this year, India has the potential to bounce back as the world witnessed the Down Under Test series against Australia. They would also like to pull a positive leaf out of New Zealand's track record in UAE. The Kiwis have lost seven out of eight T20s here.
Last year too, India had very good memories of clean-sweeping five-match T20 series in New Zealand, in which Shardul Thakur played a stellar role in picking up eight wickets followed by Jasprit Bumrah with six scalps Even Ravindra Jadeja had a fairly good run with four wickets in the series.
If India have to stay alive in the tournament with a firm chance of qualifying, both batsmen and bowlers will have to pull rabbits out of their hats.
Especially, openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, who flopped in the last match, will have to give a good start. Also Hardik Pandya, who looked out of the woods in the last match, has to pull up his socks and come out with flying colors to give a happy farewell to Kohli as captain.
Kohli has shown signs of returning to form with his half century against Pakistan which pushed India past 150 runs mark.
As far as the team combination is concerned, Shardul may get a chance to play against New Zealand tomorrow in place of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, who looked off-color against Pakistan in the last match.
The Mumbaikar might be a good replacement as he has the uncanny knack of providing breakthroughs in middle overs and garner runs quickly in death overs.
Though Mohammed Shami had gone for far too many runs against Pakistan, he has tons of experience with him to turn the heat against any opponent.
Also, the advantage with Shami and other Indian bowlers is that they have been playing in the UAE for the last month-and-a-half, which will come handy in the side's crucial encounter tomorrow.
It remains to be seen if India goes with off-spinner R Ashwin or leg-spinner Rahul Chahar in the second match.
India also has a veteran bowling allrounder Jadeja and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who bowled in tandem against Pakistan.
Current form wise, the New Zealand bowling attack looks more potent than India. Tim Southee is the third bowler in T20 history to grab 100 wickets after Lasith Malinga and Shakib Al Hasan.
Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi has 75 wickets in 58 matches, and is 11th in the all-time leading wicket-takers’ chart in T20s. Spinner Mitchell Santner has an economy of 7.40 and bagged 61 wickets in 53 matches.
Statistically, India does not have an advantage over New Zealand, considering their 18 years dry run in ICC events.
Since the 2003 World Cup, India has not beaten the Kiwis in ICC events. They lost to them in 2007 and 2016 T20 World Cups and also lost in the 2019 ODI World Cup by 18 runs in the semifinals.
India also lost to New Zealand in the final of the World Test Championship this year.
New Zealand also boasts of Trent Boult who can replicate Shaheen Afridi's histrionics against India's top-order in Powerplay.
The Kiwis batting department looks a tad unfit with Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill recovering from injuries.
Squads
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Devon Conway, Tim Seifert (wk), James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Mark Chapman, Adam Milne, Kyle Jamieson, Todd Astle.
Match Starts at 7:30 pm IST. (UNI)
