The Indian team have already secured their qualification to the T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 stage despite having one more group-stage game left. The Suryakumar Yadav-led side have won all three of their fixtures so far, starting with USA, followed by Namibia with their latest win coming against arch-rivals Pakistan.
The Men in Blue will play their final group-stage match tomorrow (February 18) against Netherlands, which will be an inconsequential match for the co-hosts of the ICC event. The match could be an opportunity for the management to rotate or rest players in a bid to manage workload. However, the contest will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which is also the venue for India’s first Super 8 match against South Africa as well as the final and would allow the Indian players to get used to the conditions.
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In such a scenario, Indian batting coach Sitanshu Kotak opened up on the possible combination India can have for the Netherlands match.
Speaking at the pre-match post conference, Kotak said, “Every match is important for us. On this ground, after this, the next match is on the 22nd (against South Africa). And the final can be here (too). So obviously, it is good for the players to get used to this condition. I don’t think there’ll be any experiments. But yes, looking at the wicket and conditions, we might try something different.”
Going by Sitanshu Kotak’s words, India might opt to bring in a pacer and drop an extra spinner. Notably, India had opted for an extra spinner in Kuldeep Yadav for the Pakistan game since the tie was in Colombo, which was expected to favour spinners heavily. Thus, Kuldeep might give way to either Arshdeep Singh or Mohammed Siraj or both in case Jasprit Bumrah is rested although unlikely.
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