Pakistan beating both India and New Zealand in their first two games has made the India-New Zealand clash a must-win for both teams. It is a virtual quarter-final game assuming that both the teams will beat Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia in their remaining games after playing against each other. Thus who wins this game becomes very crucial in terms of teams making it to the next round.
Meanwhile, dew has played an important role in the T20 World Cup so far. Teams chasing has found it easier to bat rather than teams batting first. The India-Pakistan game was a classic example of the same. The Pakistan-New Zealand game was also played very much on the same lines. Pakistan batting second found it much easier to score than the Kiwi batters who fell to the early seam and swing from the Pakistan bowlers.
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The Indian skipper Virat Kohli eluded to the dew factor against Pakistan after the game to speak about the problems they faced on the ground. “Small factors like the dew make a huge difference. They outplayed us but with such conditions, you need to win the toss,” he said.
As per reports in TOI, the support staff of the Indian team will impart some techniques from the NCA for practice sessions in the build-up to their game against New Zealand.
Tips For Team India To Counter Dew vs New Zealand
Ensuring that the ball is not dripping wet
Practicing with a wet ball is not the only way to counter the dew factor in the ground. The idea behind using a wet ball during practice is to make sure that the players are able to grip the wet ball which is what they will be getting in a match situation. The Indian players will be practicing with the wet ball to improve their grip on the ball.
Bowling The Right Length
The Indian bowlers should look to bowl the right length. With the dew factor in play, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and co should look to bowl full-pitched deliveries and not yorker-length deliveries.
“With the dew, the ball doesn’t swing anyway. If you are not landing the yorkers, then it’s best you don’t offer full-length balls. Hard lengths become the best option. But you can’t pitch it too short because it sits up. The slower ones back off a length also become hittable because they don’t grip on the surface and skid off at a nice pace for the batters. The good length becomes a tad shorter and more in line of the stumps. If one can master the full-length ball, the batters will be caught by surprise,” says an expert who works closely with the Indian team.
Wrist Spinners More Ideal Than Finger Spinners
With the ball coming faster of the pitch in dewy conditions, a wrist spinner would be a better bet for India than a finger spinner against New Zealand. Rahul Chahar is the only wrist spinner in the Indian squad at the moment. Both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are finger spinner with Varun Chakravarthy adding his mystery element to it.
In such a situation India would be surely missing someone like a Yuzvendra Chahal who was not selected in the squad. Kuldeep Yadav with all his experience would also have been a good option with the Kiwi batters not good players of spin barring Kane Williamson.
Thus, in such a situation Rahul Chahar should be given a game in place of probably Varun who failed to make an impact against Pakistan. In case India wants to make a change to their seam bowling attack, Shardul Thakur can replace either of Bhuvi or Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin can also feature in the XI giving India’s spin bowling attack more potency. Bumrah, Shami/Bhuvi/Shardul, Rahul Chahar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin should be India’s five-man bowling attack against New Zealand.
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