Kamal Ghorui
Defending champions India national cricket team are weighing changes to their struggling opening partnership ahead of a must-win Super Eights encounter against Zimbabwe national cricket team in Chennai on Thursday. With semi-final qualification hanging in the balance, India are considering wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson as a possible option at the top of the order in their second Super Eights fixture.
Opener Abhishek Sharma has endured a lean run, including three successive ducks, compounding India’s problems. The defending champions began the Super Eights with a heavy 76-run loss to South Africa national cricket team, leaving them with little room for error. The qualification equation is now simple. Win the remaining two matches and progression remains largely in India’s control. Slip up, and they could be forced to rely on other results. Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak confirmed that combinations are being debated internally. “There can be changes, yes,” Kotak told reporters. “And obviously, it goes without saying that we discuss, because there are two leftie openers, number three is left-handed.” Although he played down concerns over the left-heavy top order, Kotak admitted that repeated early dismissals had prompted reflection. “I personally don’t think that there is any problem there but because we lost a wicket in the first over in three games, obviously, any team would think,” he said. India’s batting core is dominated by left-handers, a pattern opponents have exploited. Sides such as Pakistan national cricket team, Netherlands national cricket team and South Africa have opened with off-spin, dismissing one of the openers in the very first over. In the defeat to South Africa, Ishan Kishan fell for a fourth-ball duck after captain Aiden Markram began with off-spin. Samson, a right-hander who featured earlier in the tournament against Namibia when Abhishek was unwell, could offer balance at the top.
