Mannn… O mannn o man… Heart stopping stuff. Pommie Mbangwa screamed, was elated and was totally pumped up after the herculean victory of Zimbabwe against mercurial but unpredictable Pakistan. Even on this verge of extinction, entire Pakistan is believing on one team to choke – India, which will help them to qualify for semi finals. The Eagles – Zimbabwe – has a dynamic and precedented Sikandar Raza. From failing in fighter pilot exams to carrying Zimbabwe single handedly for the last 2.5 years, his success is beyond measure for the enigma he is. Airforce’s loss is cricket’s gain. Streets in Sialkot didn’t know whether to celebrate the success of him or grieving about Pakistan’s heart stopping loss. But hopefully they will cheer up for him on Sunday. Its going to be box office Sunday at MCG. Meanwhile the mad genius and King of cricket, Virat Kohli celebrated his 34th birthday on Saturday. He is on his toes to provide birthday bash to this African unit.
India:
Rising to the occasion is being the Indian team’s purpose in this world cup. But one guy has risen always in T20I world cups. Carried the team in 2014 and 2016 and now doing the same. Virat Kohli once again chewing runs like hunger kid still piling up the cookies. Playing with the passion and obsession which others could only imagine in this tourney and shut down all naysayers on his T20 credentials. His obsession reminds me of Kobe Bryant. Setting new benchmarks every day and throwing it to sky high to break it again is his USP. Against Pakistan, he batted like whole Hogwarts conducting the magic show and against Bangladesh and Dutch he slow-poisoned the opponents. Better he should start tutorial on how to bat in Australia. When his career ends, like MSD once said, he will get stands on his name in many grounds in Australia. Indian team’s cheat code in this format is undoubtedly SKY. He is doing whatever he wants like in his backyard. Zimbabwe might sweat it out on sketching the plans for brothers of destruction. KL Rahul finally turned up on previous match after undergoing session with Paddy Upton. Management backed him lot and it’s time to show his faith. Skipper Rohit wretched form continuing in this series and his dismissals are also weird. He knows how to step up. Form of Hardik and Dinesh Kartik has been worrying like their skipper and India is not finishing games properly because of their form. Poster boy Pant warming the bench in this tourney is nearly scuffing DK’s neck for that spot and DK’s wicket keeping is also being below average in this World cup. Better if they both rediscover their form before knockouts. Ashwin’s all-round ability is getting noticed and proving how street smart he is in this format .Axar Patel looks to bring out his A game along with Bhuvneshwar and Shami. Arshdeep Singh proved his mettle and he is going to lead this bowling unit along with Bumrah in upcoming years. Fast bowling unit doing more than a decent job in this tournament than we all expected.
Zimbabwe:
Sikandar Raza along with their pacers carrying this team from qualifiers. Batters never shown any consistency. Sean Williams showed his glimpses in last 2 matches, but that was clearly not enough. Inexperience of Madhevere, Shumba, Chakabva and Burl costing the games. Skipper Ervine is also going through rough patch like his counterpart Rohit. If the experienced pros Sean Williams and Craig Ervine step up, it won’t be an easy match for Indians. On their day, this Zimbabwe unit has been giant slayers. Blessing Muzarabani using his height perfectly here. Indian batters struggle vs tall pacers might catch his eye. Skiddy pacer is always ready to bowl in any phase and keep evolving every match. Luke Jongwe and Ngarava causing all troubles to batters, but their inexperience would cost them against this Indian team. Brad Evans is becoming special cricketer for Zimbabwe and his batting contributions in death along with Ryan Burl will be pivotal. After that cult classic win against Pakistan, they lost the plot. They suffered last ball loss against Bangladesh and suffered badly against Netherlands. Zimbabwe batters very rarely played in these kinds of bigger boundaries which is the open weakness of that unit. Raza’s middle over spin bowling exhibition is a treat. Bowling googlies, carroms, sliders and off breaks like prime Ajantha Mendis. In Indian resto bars fans screamed “he got better googly than our Yuzi”. Sean Williams and Ryan Burl will take care of spin attack in middle. Bowling against SKY is going to be the litmus test for pacers. If they block his sweep, he will play inside out, cover drive or a whip over cow corner. They should be on the toes while Virat-SKY bat together.
Scenario in group B:
In case if this match is washed out, both teams will share a point each, then India will move to 7 points and qualify for semis. South Africa are on 5 points currently, if they win against Netherlands, it will take them to 7. Even if Pakistan beat Bangladesh, it can only take them to 6 points, Bangladesh too can, at best, jump top 6 points. So India’s loss today is more important for Pakistan.
Probable Playing XI:
India:
KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik / Rishabh Pant (WK), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh
Zimbabwe:
Wesley Madhevere, Craig Ervine (C), Regis Chakabva (WK), Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba, Ryan Burl, Luke Jongwe, Tendai Chatara, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani
Weather and Pitch Report:
There is only 0 percent chance of rain with the afternoon and evening expected to remain free of rain. Conditions might remain cloudy but there is no rain forecast in Melbourne for November 6. Melbourne always assisted quality pacers and spinners can exploit bigger boundaries if they bowl better lengths.
Date: Sunday, November 06, 2022
Time: 01:30 PM IST and 18:00 local time
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar
Facts & Milestones:
- KL Rahul needs 4 sixes to reach 100 T20I sixes.
- Virat Kohli needs 68 runs to reach 4000 T20I runs.
- Raza needs 3 sixes to reach 50 T20I sixes.
Sikandar Raza scored more than 500 runs in last 12 T20Is and striking at 170+ SR. Along with that he got 15+ wickets and 8 MoM under his kitty. His economy is under 6.25 RPO.
Dream 11 Team:
