T20 World Cup 2022 Warm-Up Schedule and the Tough Calls for Team India
With the T20 World Cup 2022 coming nearer, India is gearing up with more power to win the battle against the participating teams. For the forthcoming mega event, warm-up fixtures have been announced.
To keep up with the latest cricket updates, we have come up with the complete schedule for the practice session for team India. The real ground battle will commence from October 16 to November 13, 2022, in Australia.
Meanwhile, the warm-up fixtures will be conducted from October 10 to 19, 2022 in Melbourne and Brisbane, featuring 16 teams. The participating teams for the first-round fixtures are West Indies, UAE, Scotland, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Sri Lanka and Namibia who will play their warm-up matches from October 10 to 13, 2022.
The remaining matches involving the teams, Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, England, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh which will be held from October 17 to 19, 2022.
Matches will be conducted in the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Junction Oval, The Gabba, and Allan Border fields and the upcoming matches won’t hold the T20I status.
The tournament will begin with the opening fixture between Namibia and Sri Lanka on October 16, 2022, at Geelong while the Super 12 will begin on October 22 with the opening clash between Australia and New Zealand. The final match will be played on November 13. Australia is the current defending champions, having defeated New Zealand in the final of last year’s T20 World Cup.
Warm-Up Fixtures for T20 World Cup 2022
11 October – Namibia vs Ireland
12 October – West Indies vs the Netherlands
13 October – Zimbabwe vs Namibia
13 October – Sri Lanka vs Ireland
13 October – Scotland vs UAE
17 October – Australia vs India,
17 October – New Zealand vs South Africa
17 October – England vs Pakistan, The Gabba
17 October – Afghanistan vs Bangladesh
19 October – Afghanistan vs Pakistan
19 October – Bangladesh vs South Africa
19 October – New Zealand vs India
Tough Calls for India Ahead of T20 World Cup
In the Asia Cup 2022, the India squad had a tough time and they missed qualifying for the final match. Rohit-led India squad lost both the matches to Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Also, the win in the face-off against Afghanistan didn’t seem to be good enough to take them to the final clash.
However, the upcoming matches in the tournament could open the eyes of team India. The last few matches must have made them realize the team understands their flaws in their performances and the best-performing combinations.
For 15 years, India hasn’t tasted the fun of lifting the World Cup Trophy. Arguably, team India has been the best T20 franchise league in IPL, they couldn’t break the trophy jinx.
On that note, let’s have a look at the decisions that India took ahead of the T20 World Cup:
- Assuring Dinesh Karthik’s Role
Dinesh Karthik made a wonderful comeback in the competitive cricket post IPL 2022 season for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). His finishing capability in the match witnessed him getting the call-up to team India after 3 years.
Given a couple of Man of the Match performances against South Africa and West Indies, he seemed to be the designated finisher of the Indian team for the T20 World Cup.
However, he has given a solitary delivery in the Asia Cup and played important matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, favouring the all-around skills of Deepak Hooda.
Still, his efforts didn’t work as he can be missed in the upcoming matches and it is suspected that he’ll get an opportunity in the playing XI or not against Australia and South Africa. It’s high time that management calls the shots as he is a great performer and makes historic contributions to the team.
- Retaining Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Arshdeep Singh
In the defeat of India against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, one of the glaring issues was the lack of appropriate batting skills and death bowling. In the 19th over of both the matches, Bhuvi was really tough when the game was left for just 7 runs for Arshdeep to defend the match.
In both the final overs, the youngster was sensational but he couldn’t take the team over the line in the Asia Cup. With both Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep having poor big-hitting skills, it would be interesting to see who will back the team once Harshal Patel returns.
Bhuvneshwar is good at picking up the wickets with the new ball but Arshdeep also gives tough competition in crunch situations. The team management has to decide wisely if they play both the pacers along with Jasprit Bumrah, it can be long playing tail.
- Deciding the Fate of Rishabh Pant
When Pant was ruled out for the opening of the Asia Cup against Pakistan, many questions were raised. Management decided to bring Jadeja as a floater at 4th position to sustain the Pakistani spinners which did wonder.
However, after finding a settled combination, Jadeja was ruled out of the Asia Cup which is also likely to miss the T20 World Cup 2022.
The woeful scores of 14(12), 17(13) and 20*(16) couldn’t impress the management. So, it’s high time for the selectors and management to decide whether Pant will make it to the playing XI or in the T20 World Cup squad.
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