India have made it to back-to-back T20 World Cup finals following a seven run win over England in the semi-final. The Men in Blue are at the cusp of successfully defending their crown, but standing in their way
will be a resilient New Zealand side who have handed a couple of heartbreaks to India and its fans.
New Zealand will not be an easy team to get past, especially considering the way they stormed into the final against the most in-form side South Africa. The Kiwis have never won a World Cup and are just one step away from making it a reality. It is going to be a blockbuster of a contest, but India will need to resolve a few issues before heading into the big game.
1. Fielding India have been awful in the field. They have dropped so many catches over the course of the competition and some of those dropped catches have come back to haunt them. What’s done is done, but playing in the final is completely different. Every mistake will go punished and will cost the team heavily and therefore India should work on their fielding and improve their catching and run out efficiency.
2. Abhishek Sharma’s form
Who would have believed that the World’s no 1 T20I batsman is struggling to cope up with the pace of the World Cup. Abhishek Sharma has put together a series of below par performances since the starting of the competition, but he needs to find his rhythm heading into the ultimate clash. An in-form Abhishek Sharma could become a nightmare for New Zealand and India will hope that rediscovers his touch.
3. Bowling
India will need to solve their bowling issues heading into the big final on Sunday. They gave away close to 250 runs in the game against England despite having so many big names. Gautam Gambhir will need to sort out the bowling combination and possibly get Mohammed Siraj back into the attack for Varun Chakravarthy because of Siraj’s familiarity with the Ahmedabad wicket.
4. Prepare well for New Zealand’s opening duo
New Zealand have come out all guns blazing with the help of their star opening duo of Finn Allen and Tim Seifert. Allen is coming into this game on the back of the fattest century in the history of the T20 World Cup while his partner also has a lot of runs under his belt. India will need to come prepared for the opening duo and target their weaknesses. If they can eliminate both of them early in the game, India will have an upper hand in the tie.
5. Read the pitch well
The defending champions have not had great memories of playing in Ahmedabad. They faced a shambolic defeat to South Africa a few days ago and will want to avoid that against New Zealand. The players should study the pitch better and prepare accordingly. They should make their gameplan according to the conditions in different phases of the game.
