Men in Blue were favorites before the world cup main matches started especially after having a brilliant run in both warm-up games against England and Australia but they lost their first match against Pakistan by 10 wickets.
With this humiliating defeat against arch-rivals Pakistan, their net rate has been dropped significantly and they will be next locking horns against Black Caps in a must-win game, and losing a game against them will possibly shut the doors for them to reach in the semifinal round of marquee event.
The question arises, there is a gap of seven days between their first and second match will this help team India in their preparation will this turn out to be an obstacle. Let us ponder those points in detail.
- The 7-day break might have given ample time to Indian players to reflect on what went wrong in the opening game against Pakistan and the areas where they need to work on ahead of the next clash against New Zealand.
- This might go to their disadvantage too, as the rest of the teams have played at least 3 matches whereas Men in Blue have just played one which means the rest of the teams have got more game time than India.
- The 7-day gap should have given adequate rest and relaxation to Indian players where they could have not gone for practice instead of spending time with their family which is good especially when you have lost the first match so badly.
- India’s track record against Black Caps is pretty average when it comes to ICC tournaments as the last time, Men in Blue registered victory against New Zealand in a major ICC tournament was in the year 2003 Champions trophy so this break might have helped them to come up with a better strategy against them.
- The gap must have given them adequate time to ponder what would be their ideal playing X1 and based on conditions what sort of players they need to back in a match against New Zealand.