 India plays New Zealand in the last league match of the three-nation Micromax Cup tri-series at Dambulla. The winner of this game will enter the final and play
Sri Lanka, while the losing team will go out of the tournament.
Currently, India has five points from three games, whereas New Zealand are
at seven from three. Hence, another rain-affected, abandoned game will ensure
that the Kiwis will be through to the final. This means that India has to win
the game to qualify for the final.
Click for Live Score Card of India Vs New ZealandIf India performance in the previous game against Sri Lanka is anything
to go by, then the side will need some real strong batting performance to harbour
hopes of beating New Zealand. The Indians collapsed to 103 all out, and despite
there being some decisions that went against them the batting has been a major
concern for the Indians. In the first game of the tournament against New Zealand,
India has already been dismissed for 88 and are generally struggling to bat
well.
What the Indians will be looking at is to get in Virat Kohli in the
side in place of Rohit Sharma, who has generally struggled through the
series. Sharma has shown a penchant to fall over and hence is a candidate for
lbw on a regular basis, something that the swing bowlers have exploited rather
well. However, whether that will make any difference or now remains to be seen.
The other worry for the Indians is the form of the captain MS Dhoni himself.
Usually, he is one of the most reliable Indian batsmen, but he has shown some
lack of runs on this tour so far - including the three Tests. All in all, the
Indian batting is something that will need to allow their bowlers a kind of
a buffer to play with.
As compared to that, New Zealand will be a tad frustrated with the lack of
games. They last played a full match in the series on 13th August, before their
next game on the 19th was abandoned due to rain. This means that they have had
no cricket for 12 days leading up to the game and could mean that they go into
the game a tad off-colour.
What they will enjoy is that the seam bowlers have had a good time in this
series, and they possess the arsenal to get past the Indian batsmen. With the
toss having proved a no-show, it will be an interesting game between the two
sides to decide who plays Sri Lanka in the final on the 28th of August.
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