Job not over: Ishan

The Indian cricket team’s rampaging win against Pakistan was a treat to watch for the cricket lovers across the world. Having secured their Super Eight berth with the win in Colombo on Sunday, co-hosts India arrived here today for their final league fixture. The match against Netherlands on February 18 will be their first game at the Narendra Modi Stadium in the tournament. The venue will host the tournament’s final on March 8 if Pakistan do not reach the title game.

While the outcome of this match will not likely affect India’s final standings in the group, it will serve as a final chance for the defending champions to work on some of the issues that crept up during their games so far.

India would want to improve their fielding after catches were dropped by Kuldeep Yadav and Tilak Varma against Pakistan. It’s a chance for Abhishek Sharma, who was dismissed for nought in the two matches he played, and Varma, who was seen struggling against Pakistan’s spinners, to regain their rhythm.

More importantly, the game will give India a chance to get a feel of the pitch and stadium before their Super Eight opening game against South Africa here on February 22. In their last outing at the same venue, the Indian team defeated South Africa by 30 runs in December.

The Proteas have won both their two league games here — vs New Zealand (by seven wickets) and vs Canada (by 57 runs). South Africa also had a Super Over win against Afghanistan.

During an interaction with the BCCI TV, Kishan said that the win against Pakistan doesn’t mean the job is over. “No, I think the job is not over. So I wouldn’t say, I’m very satisfied. We need to forget this one and move on to the next game,” said Kishan. “I feel this is for all those who were supporting us throughout the game, throughout the tournament, when we were preparing very hard. So credit goes not just to me, but to the whole of India. I think I was just keeping it simple, like I said it’s just another game. There was no panic about anything before the match or in between the games,” he added.

While India still have a long way to go in the tournament, Axar Patel said their performance against Pakistan boosted the players’ confidence. “Basically, what was happening on the wicket, the odd ball was skidding a little more, and some other balls were spinning more. When we came to bowl in the second innings, I realised that the new ball was skidding a little more,” said Patel. “So the plan was to observe what the batsman wanted to do, in which area he wanted to target me. After that I changed my line or length. The win against Pakistan was the outcome of proper planning, and that will be our strategy in the upcoming games,” he added.

Meanwhile, former India coach Ravi Shastri said that Abhishek needs to be a little more patient early in his innings during the remainder of the tournament. “I think he just has to give himself a little bit of time,” said Shastri. “Such things happen and you can go off the boil, but he’s just got to give himself a little more time until he gets back on track. Because for him to convert those dot balls later on into boundaries and sixes, is not difficult,” he added.