Will all due respect to the other teams that have
played in the World Cup so far, today is the day that the tournament will finally
burst into life. India take on Australia in what will be a clash for the ages
where two titans of the modern game will go toe to toe against each other. You
could not have asked for a better game to make your Sunday a spectacle. There
are a lot of interesting sub-plots building up to the game, and in this article
we will talk about the big questions that will directly or indirectly determine
the outcome of the game.
Will Gill make it?
The big talk from the Indian camp in the past few days
has been the health and availability of opener Shubman Gill. The opener has
been diagnosed with dengue and is a doubt to make it to the Australia game.
While initial talk was about him certainly missing the game altogether, coach
Rahul Dravid in his press conference on Friday said that there is enough time
for Gill to not only recover, but to make the 11 in time.
If Gill does not make it in time, there is a
replacement available in Ishan Kishan, who has been playing the middle order as
the role of the destroyer. With Kishan in the fray, it will become a left-right
combo which has its own set of advantages. So will it be Gill or will it be
Kishan? It’s going to be a very interesting call nevertheless.
A red soil pitch or a black soil pitch?
The Chepauk is a very interesting venue, as in it is one
of the few Indian venues that have both black-soil and red-soil pitches which
are used depending on a lot of factors. So the teams right now do not have an
idea which of the pitches will be used.
However, it looks increasingly likely that it is going
to be the black-soil pitch. Generally, black soil pitches tend to play a little
slower and lower than a red soil pitch, which helps the spinners to come into
play that much more. If it is the former pitch that is used, then it is India
who will hold all the aces because of the sheer quality and the number of
spinners that they possess. Nevertheless, irrespective of the pitch that is used,
it will make for fantastic cricket on offer.
Ashwin or Shardul?
This is a question that will have a different answer
in each of the 9 games that India will play during the course of the tournament,
but for now it looks increasingly likely that it will be Ashwin who plays this
game.
India skipper Rohit Sharma has constantly used the
term “flexible” which he is looking for in his side in the build-up to the
World Cup, and that is the reason why Shardul finds himself in the side for the
World Cup. While Shardul is a handy option with the ball, his batting is
unreliable to say the least.
Ashwin, on the other hand, has just come off a very
good series against the same opponents, troubling the likes of Smith and
Labuschagne. The fact that the game is in his home confines, the decision
becomes that much more simpler to make.