ICC World Cup: Hardik-Less India Face New Zealand Challenge in Top of Table Tie

It's the top of the table clash in the 2023 ICC World Cup today with India taking on New Zealand at Dharamshala.

With the snow-capped Dhauladhar mountains in the backdrop, the HPCA Stadium, made at an altitude of 1,457 m above the sea level, offers a picturesque view which leaves you in awe and takes away your breath at the same time whenever a cricket game happens in the city.

Amidst this beautiful background, the Indian team, currently on a four-match winning streak, will be aiming to extend their unbeatable run when they take on a formidable New Zealand side, unbeaten like them, in a riveting top of the table clash on Sunday.

Though New Zealand and India have eight points each, a superior net run rate means the Blackcaps are ahead of the hosts’. For India, the odds are stacked up against them – they haven’t won against New Zealand in an ODI World Cup match in last 20 years and are in a corridor of uncertainty over their combination in Hardik Pandya’s absence.

There was a moment of nervousness crossing the minds of various onlookers when Pandya sustained the left ankle injury while trying to stop the ball on his follow-through during the league stage match against Bangladesh in Pune, and didn’t participate in the rest of the match.

With him advised rest and not traveling to Dharamshala, with an expectation to join the Indian team in Lucknow ahead of clash against England on October 29, the team think-tank now has to ponder over the best combination it can get as a makeshift measure in the absence of the absolutely irreplaceable Pandya.

With him not available, India need at least two players to fill in for Pandya’s all-round abilities. Pacer Mohammed Shami can get a look in, so can either of Ishan Kishan or Suryakumar Yadav to bolster the batting strength. However, there was a little scare in the team's nets session on the eve of the game with both Ishan and Surya needing medical attention.

Ishan Kishan got bitten by a bee on the back of his head, but it was Surya's injury that seemed a bit more serious with the batter getting hit on his right wrist. He looked in considerable pain and put an icepack on the area before getting it strapped and ending his nets session.

While speaking to the media in the pre match press conference, Indian coach Rahul Dravid refused to give too many of hints over the likely combination in Pandya’s absence, but did mention about the team looking at the possibility of playing either three pacers or the entire spin troika, something which they did in their tournament opener against Australia at Chennai.

“With Hardik not being there and Hardik being one of those four seamers, we'll just have to see with the combination we can go with. We certainly can go with the three fast bowlers or the three spinners. With that kind of combination, we still could play him and play Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin) and move Jadeja up.”

“But there are different combinations we could come up with. The three seamers, having someone like Shami sitting out there and bringing him in this game is a great option. In some cases, there is Ashwin who has obviously been sitting out, who has great quality as well. So, there are two or three combinations we could use considering this till Hardik gets back.”

“Many different, different permutations and combinations. I wouldn't want to give too much away. I mean, we are pretty clear on what our playing 11 is tomorrow. But I wouldn't want to be giving too much away.”

It remains to be seen if Shardul Thakur, the person closest to Pandya’s skillsets, will be retained in the seam-friendly venue or Ravichandran Ashwin can come in, as Dharamshala has also shown to help spinners too in its previous games.

Dravid elaborated that Thakur had been given the clarity of being an bowling all-rounder in the eleven. “Without going into too much of specifics, and it's hard to go into a lot of specifics in a PC, but Shardul clearly, his role was to be that kind of bowling all-rounder for us, in the games that he played.”

“We saw him as someone who certainly has a happy knack of taking wickets as we have seen and then bowling those middle overs for us and being like a fourth seeming option for us on certain wickets which would probably require that fourth seeming option.”

“Plus, he hasn't had a chance to really bat a lot over the last bit. But certainly, he's been working very hard in the nets with his batting and we've been working very hard on it. We've seen that he has the ability to hit some big shots and play some good shots.”

“Of course, we've seen it more probably in Test cricket, not so much in one-day cricket as yet, because he has not had the opportunity to bat much. But certainly, that was the kind of role he fitted in for us in that bowling all-rounders role.”

Apart from this, India have been great in every aspect, though Mohammed Siraj has been a little expensive with the ball. Captain Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have been among the runs in every match.

Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja have proved to be strike-makers with the ball, with the spin duo giving India the desired control and scalps for winning the middle-overs phase.

On the other hand, despite injuries to regular captain Kane Williamson and veteran pacer Tim Southee, New Zealand have been in top form. Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mithcell, Will Young and Glenn Phillips have made match-winning contributions with the bat.

With the ball, left-arm spin of Mitchell Santner, currently the highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 11 scalps, will prove to be the key for New Zealand to stop rampaging Indian batters. Fast-bowlers Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson and Trent Boult are potent in tearing through the batting line-ups in various phases of the game.

Despite Williamson and Pandya unavailable for Sunday’s clash, the recent form of players in both India and New Zealand camps makes the match at HPCA stadium a blockbuster prospect. It promises edge-of-the-seat battles between the bat and ball to leave fans in awe of the action on the field from a cricketing and aesthetics point of view.

(With inputs from IANS)