Kohli’s form a bothering point as India face Canada amid rain threat
Creditably, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav have more than made up for Kohli. Pant made 36 and 42 against Ireland and Pakistan, good enough contributions for India to emerge victors.
Suryakumar overcame a diffident start to the tournament just at the right time, making a crucial fifty against the USA.
‘Spin Basher’ Shivam Dube has been on a tailspin since his arrival in the US, but a laboured 31 off 35 balls against the co-hosts might just have fetched him another game ahead of the waiting Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
If India want to bring in Jaiswal, then it has to be as an opener and Kohli will have to return to his No.3 slot.
While India’s batting might, just as other teams, has been neutralised by the drop-in pitches in New York, their bowling worked like a well-oiled machine on those very tracks.
The trio of Jasprit Bumrah (five wickets), Hardik Pandya (seven wickets), Arshdeep Singh (seven wickets) have not given anything to the rival batters.
The performance of Pandya and Arshdeep would be particularly pleasing to the management. Both of them had a torrid time in the IPL on various counts and were heavily criticised.
But here, they have put all that behind them to lead India’s attack along with the ever-reliable Bumrah.
The think-tank will also hope that at some stage Mohammed Siraj (one wicket) and Ravindra Jadeja, who is yet to pick up a wicket, will join their colleagues, even though both of them have not leaked runs.
However, it will not be entirely surprising to see the big wigs bring in some changes in the bowling department. They can think of giving a chance to either Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal or even both against Canada.
In that case, India might give a break to Jadeja and Axar Patel, another impressive performer with both bat and ball.
It can also help the bowling unit prepare ahead of the Super Eights in the Caribbean, where the pitches are expected to be more spin-friendly.
On the other hand, Canada are a bit green behind the ears but not short of determination, as they had manifested during their 12-run win over Ireland.
Players such as opener Aaron Johnson can spring a surprise on their day. But stopping this superior quality Indian side on its tracks could be a task beyond the Canadians, who might be banking more on the predicted spell of disruptive rains for that.
Lauderhill is about 50km from Miami, which has been battling flash floods caused by a tropical storm, a worrisome situation for the organisers of the showpiece who are hoping to make space for cricket in the American market.
Sqauds:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj.
Canada: Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Dilon Heyliger, Dilpreet Bajwa, Rishiv Joshi, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Kanwarpal Tathgur (wk), Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh, Rayyankhan Pathan, Shreyas Movva (wk).
Match starts at 8 PM IST.