with India Now preparing for the semi-final match with England at the Adelaide Oval in men’s T20 World Cup, one can feel optimistic about the side’s prospects as they will play in the venue where they were spared by Liton Das and beat Bangladesh by five runs in a tense rain-hit match.
But Sunday’s matches showed that the double-header pitch was a bit slow and the boundaries were short. Asked what India would do in a situation like this in the semi-final against England, head coach Rahul Dravid remarked that if the pitch is really slow then his team will be quick to adapt to the situation.
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“It was, again, a different kind of wicket, and it was played in Adelaide as well. I just can’t sit here after a game and predict what’s going to happen there. We’ll have a few days; We will go and look at that wicket and see what we think it can do. Of course, if it is slow then we will play according to those conditions. If we think it can play differently, then we have to build a team to match that.”
“Again, we’ll have to go out there and see. I watched a few games today and I know the tracks were slow and they caught on and they turned a little bit. We must have been playing on a new strip since then and the strip we played against Bangladesh, to be honest, it didn’t spin.
Dravid further insisted that the strike rate of batsmen depends on how they adapt to the conditions, calling them only certainty in an uncertain tournament. “The strike rate is different in every situation, field and situation. If you are playing a match that needs to score 200 runs, or the like on this wicket, where we think there was some movement. But according to the information we got from the boys inside, 170-180 seemed ideal.
He said, ‘Your strike rate should be different in this kind of match. We have played in matches where 150 was a win and 160 in Adelaide was difficult to chase in those conditions. So you have to play with the conditions.”
“Honestly, you can’t say this is the strike rate I want to play at, because that’s what the World Cup has shown us. The conditions in different cities are so unique that you have to adapt. Openers, powerplays, strikes It hasn’t been easy to rate.
“Other than that I think there has been little for all the countries in Sydney. Again, you have to adapt. Maybe when you go to Sydney you might have to play differently. Adelaide could be different, Couldn’t be different. I think it’s about adaptability for me in this format.”
About a year ago, India had crashed out of the race for a place in the semi-finals in the UAE. But ever since Dravid took over as head coach soon after India’s campaign ended, India have been on an upward trajectory resulting in the semi-finals now as Group 2 table toppers. He admitted that entering the last-four stage was enjoyable in a tournament whose results have been decided at a very good margin.
“It is a challenging format and tournament. When you have six teams and only one or two results don’t suit you, as we’ve seen with some other teams, I think with us too, I think one or two results could have gone the other way. . , We could have won a few matches too.”
“It is a very challenging format to be able to reach and get into the top four. It’s good, and we’re happy about that, but obviously, we know that hopefully, we’ll have some more good days as we go forward.
With the format uncertainties and the various challenges posed by the sides in Group 2, Dravid rejected the idea of instructing players to do anything extra to win against Zimbabwe for the top spot.
“At this stage, most of these guys are incredibly motivated. You don’t need to ask them to do anything extra. We stick to our procedures. We stick to our preparation. We didn’t do anything for this match. did.’
“Whether we played South Africa in this tournament or Pakistan or Zimbabwe or Bangladesh or Netherlands, our procedures and the way we went about our practice sessions is exactly the same. We haven’t changed anything regardless of the opponent, and I don’t expect the semi-finals to change either. ,
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