Rajkot encounter
Rajkot encounter
T20 at Delhi
So, India finally managed to beat New Zealand in a T20 game after six matches.
The stage was set for the Delhi boy, Ashish Nehra’s farewell game at his home ground, Feroz Shah Kotla. As a tribute to Nehra Ji, his team mates put up a splendid show and outplayed the formidable black caps in all the departments. Yes, the Black Caps did make it easy for India and harder for them by dropping both the explosive openers before they were completely set. But, again India has been winning a lot lately and tends not to succumb under pressure that easily which is not the case with the Black Caps.
Second T20 at Rajkot
Moving on then, the Cricket carnival has reached Rajkot from Delhi. Rajkot is the fourth largest city in the great state of Gujarat. It has a population of 1.2 million (2015). The venue for the match is the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium (SCA) also known as the Khandheri Cricket Stadium. The ground has a capacity to hold 28,000 cricket fans. It’s one of the youngest stadiums in India and was established in 2009. The ground has been venue to just four international cricket matches viz. One test, two ODIs and one T20.
In all the four matches at the ground India has won just one match (test drawn, both ODIs lost) and that was the T20 match against the mighty Aussies. In terms of T20s at least, the ground has been lucky for India.
In the last T20 played here in 2013, India had successfully chased a tough 201 set by the Australians. Indians, riding on mercurial Yuvraj Singh’s flamboyant 77, which included five sixes and eight fours, had easily overhauled the target with two balls and six wickets remaining.
Yuvraj is sadly not playing in these series but there are plenty others to make it two out of two for India at the ground.
This being a three-match series, it also is a chance for India to render the last match as a mere formality. They could clinch yet another bilateral series here tonight and extend their winning run.
The visitors, on the other hand, have their task cut out for them. Yes, they have a very strong T20 team and have dominated India in this format and barring the last match have had an unblemished record so far against the host team. However, they also have lost three matches out of the four played so far on this tour. They are also aware that India is on a roll since last 16 – 20 months. Besides that, this is also not the first time they have toured India and are well aware of the fact that India has always been one of the hardest teams to beat at home.
And last but not the least, the current Indian team is not a one man team it previously used to be but, is a well balanced team with an explosive top order and a solid and classy middle order. The batting is very well complemented by an aggressive and increasingly effective bowling line up.
So, without further ado, let’s all switch to the live action at Rajkot.
May the best team win.
@plus
PS: I am heading out for Mumbai (from Pune) but will catch the live action on Hotstar on my Macbook.
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