Rejuvenated India eye big win against Scotland

DUBAI: A big win against Scotland tonight might not necessarily take India to the semi-finals, but that’s what they will target in order to have some chance of reaching the knockout stage of the T20 World Cup.

India need to win big in their next two games to elevate their just-positive net run-rate. A big win is a non-negotiable for India; they wouldn’t want to leave too much ground to cover in the final game against Namibia, should Afghanistan beat New Zealand.

Against Afghanistan, India’s top four fired in unison, sustaining aggression and momentum right through the innings, something they hadn’t done in their first two games. They would have, however, liked to win by a bigger margin after removing the cream of Afghanistan’s batting by the halfway mark. They ended up conceding 56 off the last five overs, and will hope to close out better with the ball against Scotland, while hoping the batting carries on in similar fashion.

Hardik Pandya’s immediate white-ball future could hinge on his ability to bowl consistently, apart from offering lower-order batting muscle. Against Afghanistan, he was far from being in rhythm in his two expensive overs, but his six-laden 13-ball 35* helped no end.

India have welcomed a fit Suryakumar Yadav back but were set back by an injury to Varun Chakravarthy against Afghanistan. But with Ravichandran Ashwin returning 2 for 14, it’s likely Chakravarthy will have more time to recover.

Scotland can’t qualify, but a statement against a top-billed side won’t do any harm to their standing as an improved Associate side that wants to go toe to toe with the big boys. On Wednesday, they did wonderfully well, running New Zealand close in a very big chase and giving them the jitters, for a while at least. One big partnership, one better death over, one small push — that’s how close they were from causing an upset. If they can sustain that momentum and run India close, it will be a giant leap for them.

As an opener, George Munsey can access parts of the ground few batters in the current Scotland team can. And the ability to do it in the powerplay makes him a dangerous proposition. But, so far this tournament, while he has given glimpses of this ability, he has failed to convert his starts, 29 being his highest in six innings. He has one more chance to come good here.

Fast bowler Josh Davey is still nursing a “niggle”, according to captain Kyle Coetzer, and a final call will be taken on match day.