Adelaide: The Australian weather has remained rather a puzzle even for the meteorology experts, often changing from sunny to rainy within minutes. But the unpredictable weather pattern has ensured a level playing field in this ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
We have seen some massive upsets in the tournament as fancied teams like Australia, England and Pakistan stumbled against opponents they could have dominated otherwise.
India, who are facing Bangladesh on Wednesday, will be eager to avoid the banana peel at the Adelaide Oval.
Rahul Dravid at the press conference
India head coach Rahul Dravid was aware of the tricky nature of the awaiting contest. “We respect them a lot. I think this format and this World Cup has really shown us that honestly you can't take any team lightly. Ireland showed that against England. We've seen enough games in this competition.“
"I think the fact that it is already such a short format… 20 overs is such a short format of the game. The margins of victory and defeat sometimes even if they're 12 runs, 15 runs, it's actually just two hits. It's two hits one way or the other, and actually that's the game."
“So, it is already a shortened sort of rushed, noisy format, but it's very difficult to sometimes say who's a clear favourite in some of these games.
I think these conditions have actually levelled the playing field to a large extent because the boundaries are certainly bigger, and some of those big hits which you sometimes expect in the subcontinent to just go for six and you just know that I'll be able to make up those runs later on, it's not happening that easily. People are getting out."
“So, we certainly don't take Bangladesh lightly. Our preparation, our planning will be as meticulous as it was against South Africa at Perth,” said Dravid in the pre-match press conference.
Besides weather other common worry point for both teams
While the weather is a common worry point of all the teams, each team has a distinct area to be taken care of. From an Indian perspective, they will be eager to see some runs from KL Rahul’s bat as the opener has gone through horrors in the first three matches, not being able to touch even double figures in any of those outings.
The muffled performance of Rahul has robbed India of a rousing start at the top as they invariably lost a wicket at the start of the Power Play, forcing the other batsmen to take time to settle in. India will be hoping that a turnaround is near the bend of the road.
That said India will also be eying for some more hefty contribution from captain Rohit Sharma, who save for a fifty against Netherlands has not converted the starts.
Another area, the 2007 champions will be eager to improve upon is that long-time nemesis, the death over bowling. India had conceded more than 50 runs in the last 5 overs against Pakistan.
While admittedly, there has been marked improvement in this tournament, India will do good to iron out remaining flaws in that area.
Can India come up with a complete performance and cut open the path to semifinals? This could be a very intriguing match.
