Lauderhill, June 14: As India plan to win all their Group A matches, with a victory over Canada on Saturday in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024, rain is expected to play spoilsport.
However, whether there is a shortened match or no play, or even If Canada win the game, there is no threat to India's place in the Super Eight stage. Rohit Sharma's boys have already entered the Super Eight with three continuous wins.
But as far as the match with Canada is concerned, the rain threat looms large over Lauderhill amidst a flash flood warning in the region. But a confident India aim to make it four wins in a row when they face Canada at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground.
India's Super Eight games would be held entirely in the West Indies. For India too there are a few issues to be addressed from team perspectives. Virat Kohli came into the tournament on the back of being the leading run-getter in IPL 2024, where he amassed 741 runs in 15 matches while opening the batting for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. But in the Men’s T20 World Cup, Kohli has amassed scores of 1, 4 and 0, with his pattern of being out to wide deliveries a cause of concern.
With India moving out of playing on tough drop-in pitches of New York, it would help the side if Kohli gets some knocks and solid game time under his belt at Lauderhill, where the pitches are slow.
They would also like for captain Rohit Sharma to have another fluent knock after making 52 against Ireland, especially with Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav being majorly among the runs for the team. With the ball, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel have been among the key contributors in a well-oiled bowling unit.
On the other hand, Canada have given ample proof of their talent as debutants in the T20 World Cup, including getting a 12-run win over Ireland. Nicholas Kirton has batted with a high strike rate, while Aaron Johnson can also be thrilling with his batting on a particular day.
Dilon Heyliger has been their best bowler and his match-up against Rohit and Virat in the Power-play will be an interesting phase of play should rain relent at Lauderhill on Saturday, in what will also be the first men’s T20I meeting between India and Canada.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj.
Canada: Saad Bin Zafar (captain), Aaron Johnson, Dilon Heyliger, Shreyas Movva (wicketkeeper), Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton, Jeremy Gordon, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Dilpreet Bajwa, Rishiv Joshi, Kanwarpal Tathgur (wk), Pargat Singh, Ravinderpal Singh and Rayyankhan Pathan.
Match starts at 8 pm on Star Sports (TV) and Hotstar (digital)
Whether India win or lose against Canada, whether rain washes that match or not, but India will have to play well the Super Eight matches and have to address all their issues before the knockout stages of the tournament. (With IANS support)
