India are set to take on Canada in their final group-stage match of the T20 World Cup 2024. Rohit Sharma's side have already qualified for the Super 8 stages and will look to test their bench strength at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There are significant chances of this game being affected by rain. On Friday, the ground saw a decent amount of rain and more of it is predicted to happen overnight as well. India will be wary of their players getting injured on a tricky outfield, even if the game happens.
The Indian team has ticked their boxes in terms of fast bowling. Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh have done well in the last three matches. Axar Patel has been a bright spot with both bat and ball, and the team management would hope that the senior trio of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja put in some credible performances before the tournament moves into the Caribbean islands.
India have not met Canada before in the T20I format of the game. Both teams would look to close their group-stage well.
Canada are coming into the contest after a loss to Pakistan, where Aaron Johnson starred with the bat. India, on the other hand, do not need to make any changes, but it would not hurt them to hand a chance to their remaining players. Kuldeep Yadav might replace one among Ravindra Jadeja or Axar Patel in the game, while Yuzvendra Chahal might be given a chance in place of Jasprit Bumrah, who has played three matches in the spongy New York pitch.
There is a 55 per cent chance that rain will affect the game on Saturday. 0.7 mm of rainfall is expected during the match hours, apart from the rain that will take place overnight. It will be a challenge for the groundstaff to dry up the field, which does not have a world class drainage system like the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
If the match does happen, one can expect the ball to swing a bit in the early overs. Beyond that, it might turn out to be a flat batting track.
India Predicted XI
Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj
Canada Predicted XI
Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Ravinderpal Singh, Saad Bin Zafar (c), Dillon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Junaid Siddiqui, Jeremy Gordon.
India are heavy favourites to win the game. Canada, who do not play world-class bowling every day, will find it difficult to tackle the Indian bowlers.
Source: India Today