India’s fielding worse than Namibia, Abhishek Sharma’s hat-trick of ducks:5 challenges Men in Blue must overcome before Super 8 showdowns

After winning all four of their group stage clashes, India are set to face South Africa for their first Super 8 game at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on 22nd February. Despite being unbeaten in the tournament so far, the Men in Blue have been challenged by teams like the Netherlands and the USA. In the first match, India’s top order collapsed against the Americans. In the second match against Namibia, the Men in Blue could only score 25 runs, losing five wickets. Pakistan’s spinners kept the majority of the Indian batters at bay, restricting the scoring rate. Against the Netherlands too, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma’s strike rate was below par. The most surprising stat is that the Men in Blue have a catching efficiency of below 70%, which is worse than Namibia’s. There are plenty of challenges that the Indian team need to overcome, even if they have managed an unbeaten run in the tournament so far. 5 challenges for Team India before Super 8 1) India’s catching efficiency dips below 70 India might have stayed invincible throughout the four league games. However, they have already put down nine catches in this tournament, the second-most by any team in this T20 World Cup. Only Ireland (10) are above India in the unwanted list. Meanwhile, Namibia have dropped six in this World Cup. Also read: WATCH | Suryakumar, Rinku collide while attempting catch Be it Kuldeep dropping a sitter against Pakistan or Rinku-Surya’s unfortunate collision against the Netherlands, these missed opportunities could prove far more costly in upcoming games. The margin for error shrinks significantly once the tournament reaches the knockout stretch, and India will not want to carry this baggage forward in Super 8. 2) Batting trouble against off-spin Apart from fielding errors, another concern that has caught the opponents’ attention is India’s struggle against off-spin. Throughout the group stage of this tournament, no team has faced as much offspin as India (102 balls). Reason? Teams have figured out which bowling style is making India’s explosive batting struggle. Out of the 13 teams to have faced at least six overs of off-spin, only Nepal (5.25) and Oman (5.42) have worse scoring rates than that of India (6.23/over). Meanwhile, Namibia (6.80) apart, every other team has gone at 8 or above. Also read: IPL is new ‘gold rush’ for global equity firms Explosive batters like Suryakumar Yadav (28 runs in 27) and Tilak Varma (26 runs in 31 balls) have consistently struggled against off-spinners in the middle overs. It’s an area of concern which could prove very costly. South Africa has Aiden Markram and Donovan Ferreira. Zimbabwe have Sikandar Raza, who took the new ball against Australia with the match-up against Travis Head in mind. West Indies have Roston Chase, who could potentially take on the powerplay role that usually belongs to left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein. 3) Hat-trick of ducks for Abhishek Sharma Abhishek Sharma is currently the no. 1 T20I batter in the world. However, he is yet to score a single run in his maiden World Cup. After getting out for zero against the Netherlands, India’s opener equalled an unwanted record of most consecutive ducks in T20 World Cup history by an Indian. Ashish Nehra (2010-2016) was the last Indian on the list. Also read: Bangladesh want ‘friendly’ relations with India after T20 WC snub Abhishek is one of the most lethal batsmen in the shortest format. Once he’s back among the runs, few teams will be able to match India’s scoring rate. The good thing is Abhishel’s slump came in the group stage, and now that the tournament is its business end, it would be the ideal time to get off the mark and do what he does best. 4) Bowlers leaking runs in the death overs On paper, in terms of numbers, Indian bowling might seem strong against batters in death overs. However, they have yet to face a quality batting attack so far in the tournament. In the first three matches, the bowlers conceded 34, 11, and 20 runs respectively in the death overs, grabbing 4, 4 and 3 wickets in the last four overs, respectively. However, the Netherlands batters Zach Lion-Cachet and Noah Croes gave a reality check to India in the last group stage clash. The Dutch batters slammed 61 runs in the last four overs for the loss of just two wickets. 5) Rematch against 2024 WC runner-ups, India will face unbeaten South Africa Just like India, South Africa are also unbeatable in the tournament so far. A tournament where associate nations challenged the authority of full member nations, the Proteas did not lose any game in the group stage, with a net run rate of +1.943. They kept their dominance, where even Australia got ruled out by Zimbabwe, with the latter qualifying for Super-8 for the first time in T20 WC history. South Africa hold 8 points, lying above New Zealand on the points table.