T20 World Cup, India vs Scotland preview: Kohli and Co eye another strong show in must-win game

India will look to put in a strong performance when they resume their battle for survival in the T20 World Cup in another must-win contest, against Scotland in Dubai on Friday.

Two days after defeating Afghanistan, Virat Kohli and Co will be eyeing another big win, this time against Scotland, to boost their net run-rate and keep alive their slim chances of qualifying for the semi-finals.

Despite the feel-good result against Mohammad Nabi and Co, India’s semi-final prospects remain bleak thanks to the back-to-back defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand inside eight days earlier in the tournament. The nature and margin of the defeats could still come back to haunt India.

Pakistan have already made the semi-finals with four straight wins and New Zealand are favoured to join them in the last-four stage from Group 2. However, a loss for the Kiwis against either Namibia on Friday or Afghanistan next week will boost India’s chances significantly.

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Hypothetical scenarios for India to overhaul Afghanistan’s current Net Run Rate:

• If Scotland bat first and are bowled out (or in 20 overs) for 100, India need to score 101 in 7.2 overs
  
• If India bat first and score 200, they need to bowl Scotland out (or restrict them to) 92. 

India will, though, look to focus on what is within their control and not get bogged down by the talks around scenarios and eventualities.

While they cannot impact the result of the other teams’ group matches, a big win against Scotland is definitely within India’s reach.

The Indian batters struck form against a quality Afghanistan bowling attack. Rohit Sharma was back to opening the innings, and he showed his class, in signs that are ominous for India’s upcoming opponents in Scotland and Namibia.

With perfectly paced partnership, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul showed form is temporary

Rohit, his opening partner KL Rahul, along with Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, fired against the Afghans and they will fancy their chances of doing the same against Scotland.

Back in the team after missing the New Zealand game, Suryakumar Yadav will be there as well to bolster the batting, and so will be all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

Kohli was not needed with the bat against Afghanistan, but the Indian team fans would love for the skipper to celebrate his birthday in style. Perhaps it could be the occasion that Kohli rises to his best and ends the two-year wait for an international century.

If the batting was all about aggression, India’s bowling too delivered against Afghanistan, with seasoned off-spinner Ashwin Ravichandran marking his T20I return after a four-year gap with an excellent spell.

Ashwin not only picked up two wickets but was also very economical with the ball, giving away only 14 runs in his quota of four overs.

Skipper Kohli was delighted with Ashwin’s return and lauded his effort after the game.

“The return of Ash was the biggest positive, it was something he has worked really hard for,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation when asked what was biggest takeaway from the massive win.

“He (Ashwin) showed this control and rhythm in the IPL as well. He’s a wicket taker and a smart bowler.”

Ashwin, who last played an international game in June in the World Test Championship, finally got a game for India after nearly four and half months. He was named in the playing XI after spinner Varun Chakravarthy developed a left calf issue. The KKR spinner, however, is reported to have given his fitness tests and could be available if India decide to go with three spinners.

Pacers Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah will be confident after delivering impressive spells against Afghanistan. Unless there is an injury, it seems unlikely India will tinker with their bowling combination. But the runs leaked at the end against Afghanistan should concern the team management as it a) significantly hurt India’s NRR swing b) doesn’t augur well when a team struggles to close out an innings after dismissing the opponent’s top order cheaply.

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Quotes corner

India off-spinner R Ashwin: “The discussion we need to have is how we’re going to go about the couple of games we have left, and everyone’s planning and wanting to go on a real high for the last two games. That is stuff that’s not in our control. It’s fingers crossed.

“...we just have fallen short of what we want in the first two games. That’s where we find ourselves in the table. That’s T20 cricket. Very quick to come back in a tournament like this when you’ve games like that. We want to finish really well.”

— via ICC

Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer: “Of course the excitement’s there. It’s been there for every game in this tournament. I think coming up against a side like India and maybe just throw things into a new level perhaps.

“Yeah, the boys are really looking forward to it. The fixture is one that’s sort of been highlighted a while ago, but we also knew that every one of these games was going to be important. So, yeah, looking forward to the game.”

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar.

Scotland: Kyle Coetzer (c), Richie Berrington, Dylan Budge, Matthew Cross, Josh Davey (not available), Alasdair Evans, Chris Greaves, Michael Leask, Calum MacLeod, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Hamza Tahir, Craig Wallace, Mark Watt, Bradley Wheal.

With inputs from PTI, ICC and ESPNcricinfo Statsguru.

Match starts: 7:30 PM IST and will be broadcast on Star Sports & Disney+Hotstar.