Unbeaten India begin their Super 8 campaign on Thursday, taking on Afghanistan in Bridgetown. Rohit Sharma and Co. will also face Australia in the Super 8 stage, with their other opponent not yet confirmed. India's final group game against Canada got abandoned without a ball being bowled, and they will be looking to maintain their winning run.
During the group stage, India had to rely on their pace battery for wins, as the batters struggled in the USA pitches. A cause of concern will be the form of openers Rohit and Virat Kohli. Rohit began the tournament on a good note with a half-century, but his form has dipped since then. Meanwhile, Kohli has failed to build on his IPL 2024 form, registering only five runs across three innings. He was also dismissed for a golden duck vs USA.
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Many fans and experts have called for Kohli to be demoted to his usual no.3 position in the batting order, and to pick Yashasvi Jaiswal as opener in the playing XI. The RR star hasn't featured in the playing XI during this tournament and has been warming the bench. But former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer feels that Rahul Dravid should not change his batting order for the Super 8 stage, as it could lead to confusion.
{{/usCountry}}Many fans and experts have called for Kohli to be demoted to his usual no.3 position in the batting order, and to pick Yashasvi Jaiswal as opener in the playing XI. The RR star hasn't featured in the playing XI during this tournament and has been warming the bench. But former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer feels that Rahul Dravid should not change his batting order for the Super 8 stage, as it could lead to confusion.
{{/usCountry}}"Now that you are stuck with both of them, I don't think it's gonna make sense because you're gonna split both of them up. You might probably think of playing (Yashasvi) Jaiswal. That's probably what you're thinking, and then Rishabh Pant, who has done so well at number three, he has to bat even lower down the order, probably at number four. Then where does Suryakumar (Yadav) bat. So it's going to mess up the whole batting order, so I think they'll probably stick with that," he said on Star Sports.
"Rishabh has done well at number three. Suryakumar, you don't want to bat him any lower than that, so I think they'll stick with that. But yeah, they have to go really hard in the powerplay. We've seen when Australia have done that against England, they were so ahead in the powerplay, getting that 74 runs. That's where you can make a mark. So Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the way they are batting, you could see that happen in the powerplay in West Indies," he further added.
India finished on top of Group A, with seven points in four matches, ahead of second-placed USA (5). Unlike the group stage, India will be looking to increase their intensity in the Super 8s, especially considering the quality of opponents.