After many well-contested group stage matches, the T20 World Cup now moves to the Super Eight stage. Below are how the eight teams are grouped:
Group 1: Afghanistan, Australia, India and Bangladesh
Group 2: England, West Indies, South Africa and USA

After a strong performance in the group stage, India now faces a new challenge in the Super Eights. Let’s take a closer look at how their matches are shaping up.

Barbados: What can we expect from the pitch conditions?

Once a fast bowler’s paradise, the Kensington Oval pitch has transformed in the T20 era. It now favours slow bowling and often produces low-scoring games. Even in the high-scoring group match between Australia and England in this T20 WC, run-scoring was challenging once the fast bowlers started to vary the pace and used cutters to extract from spin. The pitch tended to slow down in the second half, making it advantageous for the team batting first.

India vs Afghanistan: Team strategy

For their crucial match against Afghanistan, India is likely to adopt a spin-heavy strategy. Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja are expected to lead the attack. At the same time, the pace bowlers, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, will focus on varying their pace and adapting to the pitch conditions to trouble the Afghan batters.

Afghanistan’s batting is top-heavy, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran and Azmatullah Omarzai coming in to play early on. Since teams have targeted the power play for big runs on this ground, Rohit Sharma should consider opening the bowling with Jasprit Bumrah to restrict the Afghan top order in the power play. Hardik Pandya can hit the deck and employ his cutters during the middle overs.

Afghanistan will play the same bowling unit that has performed brilliantly for them in the group stages. Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, and Mohammad Nabi will bowl spin at the Indians. They have Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq and Karim Janat to bowl pace. Afghanistan’s lack of a high-quality, slow left-arm orthodox bowler in their ranks might work in India’s favour on this pitch. Nangeyalia Kharote is a slow left-arm orthodox spinning all-rounder in Afghanistan. Still, he is young in international cricket, and we have not seen him play in this tournament yet.

Afghanistan might look to bowl spin at Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the start of the innings. They might even be tempted to play Mujeeb Ur Rahman instead of a seamer and get him to bowl at the Indian stalwarts at the start. If the Afghans manage to contain the Indian openers during the power play, they can hold India down with their spin attack in the middle overs. However, in the past, India seemed to bat a lot easier against Afghanistan than other teams. Rohit and co. will take this record into the match to intimidate Afghanistan.

If India get to bat first, I expect them to win the game relatively easily. However, if Afghanistan bats first and puts up a score in the range of 150, they will run India close or might even cause an upset.

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Antigua: What can we expect from the pitch conditions?

The pitch has a good pace and bounce, with some help from the spinners. So far in this tournament, this ground has not seen two heavyweight teams go against each other, so one cannot judge how this pitch is playing. However, what was on view was an even-paced batting one, not a sticky pitch with bite for spinners or cutters from pacers.

India vs Bangladesh: Team strategy

As the pitch is expected to be suitable for strokeplay and Bangladesh batters are better against spin than pace, India should strengthen the pace bowling department and bring back Mohammed Siraj instead of Ravindra Jadeja or Axar Patel.

On the contrary, Bangladesh might play spin-bowling all-rounder Mahedi Hasan instead of an opening fast bowler like Tanzim Sakib. As they have an intelligent, slow left-arm orthodox spinner in Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh might look to open with Sakib and Taskin Ahmed against Rohit and Virat.

Typically, Bangladesh’s best chance against India is on a sticky pitch that offers grip for their spin and medium-pace bowlers. With a good batting surface in Antigua, one expects India to beat Bangladesh without much trouble.

Gros Islet, St Lucia: What can we expect from the pitch conditions?

One of the best batting surfaces in this tournament has been on this ground. The pitch is hard and even with no discernible assistance to any bowling. Australia chased a big score of 180 against Scotland, and the pitch played true till the end. Sri Lanka scored 201 against the Netherlands on this ground as well.

India vs Australia: Team strategy

This match is the first bat-vs-bat game that India will play in this tournament. India will look to play the same team as proposed against Bangladesh, with Kuldeep, Axar, Bumrah, Siraj, Hardik, and Arshdeep as the bowlers. India may look to open the bowling with Jasprit Bumrah again during the power play and try to blunt the bats of Travis Head, David Warner and Mitchell Marsh.

Otherwise, that lineup has too much power to hold them back on this true surface. Bumrah will be in the power play, and Kuldeep will be the key bowler in the middle overs to pick up wickets and slow this explosive unit.

Australia might be tempted to field their test-pace bowling lineup of Mitchell Starc, Patrick Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood against the Indians. Adam Zampa, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell will be the other bowling choices for them. The Australian quicks will try to bowl short to the Indian batters and challenge them to hit the square boundaries. If one jogs back their memory to the 2010 T20 WC in Barbados, on a similar batting strip with a good bounce, India’s batters, except Rohit Sharma, could not handle the Australian pacers bowling shortish length at a good pace.

This match is a tough one to call for India. Australia seems to have many ways to beat India on this pitch, while India would need some assistance from their spinners to beat Australia.