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Match Details
Date: January 27, 2022
Time: 8:30 PM IST
Venue: Al Amerat Cricket Ground (Ministry Turf 1), Al Amerat, Muscat
Preview:
Match number 6 of the Legends League Cricket 2022 will witness India Maharajas up against the World Giants. While the Maharajas team has lost two on the trot now, the World Giants have won two games and lost the other. The results have ensured that the points tally is nicely poised heading into the summit clash with Asia Lions and World Giants' favourites at this stage to go through to the finale. This is because even if the Maharajas were to win this fixture, their net run rate has taken a beating after a 36-run defeat and they will have to register a win by a huge margin to compensate for their poor net run rate of -0.503.
Pitch Report:
It's been a batting-friendly surface so far in the competition. Even 200 plus scores haven't proved to be enough. Moreover, with shorter boundaries batters are fancying themselves to clear the ground. Having said that, smart bowling has reaped some rewards for the bowlers. Spinners haven't been as effective as expected and perhaps that could be the trend going forward in the tournament. It would be interesting to see if the wicket has slowed down a bit if a used pitch is made available for this match.
Decisive Factor:
Bowling seems to be the decisive factor in the tournament. Usually, on a batting-friendly wicket, it is the bowlers who make the difference and that has been the trend in this competition as well. While there have been big scores posted by all the teams' indication of how well each team has batted, it is the better bowling side that has won. The same is expected in this game between the Maharajas and the Giants.
Analysis:
Batting:
Naman Ojha showed what he was capable of in full flow when he scored a superb century in India Maharajas' second game. However, he hasn't been consistent and the other two innings have been failures. Wasim Jaffer too looked promising in the last match but departed at the wrong time for the team. Skipper Mohammad Kaif couldn't be the anchor that he had been and perhaps someone like Manpreet Goni could have come up the order to have a real impact on the match. The Giants too seem way more reliable on batters like Kevin Pietersen and Kevin O Brien and needed an Imran Tahir special with the bat to bail them out of trouble the other day, which might not happen every day.
Bowling:
It is the bowling that will be some reason to worry for India Maharajas. They just do not seem to have enough quality medium pace or seam bowlers. The part-time spinners have been expensive and Manpreet Goni along with Munaf Patel and Stuart Bunny have been the only options really to bank on for crucial overs especially whenever Irfan Pathan hasn't played. For the World Giants, Ryan Jay Sidebottom, M Hoggard, and Morne Morkel make up a really impressive pace attack along with Albie Morkel and Imran Tahir for company. If need be, they also have the likes of Corey Anderson in the side along with Darren Sammy and Kevin, so in terms of the bowling resources, Giants seem to have a slight edge.
Squads:
India Maharajas: Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Subramanium Badrinath, Naman Ojha (wk), Munaf Patel, Manpreet Gony, Nayan Mongia, Hemang Badani, Venugopal Rao, Mohammed Kaif (c), Stuart Binny, Nikhil Chopra, Aavishkar Salvi, Amit Bhandari, Venugopal Rao
World Giants: Kevin Pietersen, Jonty Rhodes, Brett Lee, Daren Sammy (c), Herschelle Gibbs, Imran Tahir, Daniel Vettori, Corey Anderson, Morne Morkel, Brad Haddin, Kevin O’Brien, Monty Panesar, Albie Morkel, Owais Shah, Ryan Jay Sidebottom, M Hoggard
Match Prediction
Conclusion:
India Maharajas definitely need Irfan Pathan to come back and Yusuf also to bowl a few overs. Other than that, the in-form batters need to take a bit more onus and bat responsibly and perhaps a bit of shuffling of the order could also make a difference. Two defeats in a row, however, would have hit the Maharajas' confidence. While World Giants' win over India through a cameo from Imran Tahir would have just given them the positivity and spirit that can help prevail in this game.
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