India Likely To Play Two Warm-Up Games Before ICC T20 World Cup
The ICC 2021 T20 World Cup is less than a month away, and India will go into the tournament as one of the top three betting favorites. The T20 World Cup will take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India should be well prepared as they are playing the second part of the 2021 IPL in the UAE, which will conclude just before the T20 World Cup commences.
The T20 World Cup will run from 17 October and finish on 14 November. The West Indies are the current defending champions and will once again be a big challenge for the rest of the teams.
BCCI Schedules Two Warm-Up Games
Even though all of the players scheduled to represent India in the T20 World Cup will have a lot of T20 cricket under their belt thanks to the 2021 IPL, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wants to make sure India has enough practice as a team before they start their T20 World Cup campaign.
The BCCI has made arrangements for India to play two warm-up games ahead of the world cup as the BCCI brass thinks it is important for the Indian team to join and play as a team instead of relying on their experience with their respective teams in the 2021 IPL.
The BCCI has yet to provide an official confirmation on the dates or the India teams. Unconfirmed reports suggest that India will play Australia and England, and the dates are likely to be October 18 and 20. Both these games will take place in Dubai.
Final Chance For Kohli To Win T20 World Cup
THIS WEEK, the BCCI announced that captain Virat Kohli would be relinquishing the T20 captaincy after the T20 World Cup. This comes as a surprise to many Indian fans knowing how passionate Kohli is about the captaincy. While no replacement has been named so far, rumours suggest that his deputy Rohit Sharma will likely take on the T20 captaincy.
Virat Kohli has done a great job with the Indian test team, but his T20 captaincy has come under the scanner, mostly due to his performance as a captain in the IPL with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Kohli has never won an IPL championship, while Rohit Sharma has led the Mumbai Indians to five IPL championships.
Many cricket fans think that Rohit Sharma is a better T20 captain than Virat Kohli and have pressured Sharma to take over the T20 captaincy. So it is now official that this will be the last time that Virat Kohli has a chance to lead India to a T20 World Cup championship win.
Head coach Ravi Shastri has also confirmed that he will not continue after the T20 World Cup concludes. The BCCI has already started the process of finding his replacement.
Will These Changes Impact India’s Performance?
Will the Indian team be emotionally impacted by the departure of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri? The answer is most likely yes, as Indian players are very emotional, especially under Kohli’s leadership.
Will these emotions harm the way they play, especially during the playoffs, or will they use the emotion to bond together as a team and give Kohli, the captain, a fitting farewell with the T20 World Cup championship.
Will the long tour of England alongside the immediate start of this seasons IPL be mentally draining for India’s top players and impact their T20 World Cup performance.
These questions can only be answered once the T20 World Cup starts, and we see how India performances against the top teams like England, Australia, and the West Indies.
MS Dhoni Selected As Team Mentor
The BCCI is taking this T20 World Cup campaign very seriously as it is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the Indian team is fully prepared both physically and mentally. The BCCI reached out to former captain MS Dhoni who won the T20 World Cup back in 2007.
MS Dhoni was offered the position of team mentor during the ICC World Cup, and he accepted the role. Dhoni is already in the UAE preparing to lead the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their 2021 IPL campaign. He will stay on after the IPL and use his experience and relationship with the current players to see if he can win a second T20 World Cup, this time as a team mentor.
Our T20 World Cup Selection – Playing XI
India has a great set of players to choose from and is likely to experiment with a few players during the competition. The playing XI we think India should go with is Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, S Yadav, I Kishan, H Pandya, R Pant, B Kumar, A Patel, R Chahar, J Bumrah.
