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T20 World Cup: 5 areas India need to focus on in today's game against Bangladesh

India face Bangladesh in the crucial World Cup game in Adelaide today (12 pm UAE Time)

Published: Wed 2 Nov 2022, 10:44 AM

Updated: Wed 2 Nov 2022, 12:42 PM

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India's Virat Kohli missed an easy catch against South Africa. -- AFP

India's Virat Kohli missed an easy catch against South Africa. -- AFP

India will face Bangladesh today in their crucial Super 12 clash of the ICC T20 World Cup in Adelaide with a place in the semifinals at stake.

After their five-wicket defeat to South Africa, Rohit Sharma's team need to win their remaining two matches against Bangladesh today and Zimbabwe on Sunday to earn a place in the semifinals.

So here are the five key areas Rahul Dravid's wards need to work on for their two crucial matches.

1. Fielding improvement

Despite posting a low score of 133 for nine on a fast and bouncy wicket in Perth, India remained in the hunt for a victory with they reduced South Africa to 35 for three in nine overs. But Aiden Markram, who went on to score a match-winning half-century, was dropped on 34 by Virat Kohli off Ravichandran Ashwin. India also missed six run-out chances, including a few easy ones, during the South African chase. A team with the ambition of the winning the World Cup cannot afford to make such mistakes on the field in a single match.

2. Ashwin's bowling

While the Indian fast bowlers did a good job against South Africa, getting swing, pace and a lot of bounce from the Perth wicket against South Africa, the game turned decisively in favour of the opposition when Ravichandran Ashwin was brought into the attack in the 10th over of the innings. The veteran off-spinner was effective in his first over, giving away only five runs. But he went for 38 runs in the next three overs, allowing South Africa to overcome a poor start. Ashwin needs to bring all his experience in the next two games to make his four overs count.

3. KL Rahul's poor form

KL Rahul is a delightful batsman when in full flow. But his weakness against the in-coming ball has been brutally exposed by the big teams. Despite scoring only 17 runs in the first three matches of the tournament against Pakistan, the Netherlands and South Africa, KL Rahul is likely to keep his place in the team for the next match. The Bangladesh attack is not going to be as threatening as the South African bowlers, so Rahul gets an opportunity to score some runs and get his confidence back.

4. Rohit needs to fire

Having become India's new full-time captain across formats, fans are longing to see the old Rohit Sharma the batsman. Barring a few quickfire 20s and 30s, the Indian captain has been struggling to consistently get the big scores. Rohit has registered only one half-century in his last seven official matches for India. A supreme player like him can always return to top form in the blink of an eye and the Indian fans would be hoping that he finds his mojo in the business end of the tournament in Australia.

5. Pant in place of Karthik

India have shown their faith in Dinesh Karthik who reached glorious heights as a finisher in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League for his franchise Royals Challengers Bangalore (RCB). It was on the back of his IPL performance that he returned to the Indian T20 team. But in the three matches at the World Cup, Karthik hasn't clicked as wicketkeeper-batsman, fumbling against Pakistan in the last-over thriller and missing two easy stumping in the next two games. He hurt his back in the game against South Africa, so that gives a chance to bring Rishabh Pant into the playing eleven. One of the biggest match-winners in international cricket across formats, Pant can give India the edge in the middle-overs with a quickfire 40 off 25 balls.



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