Friday night’s group stage World T20 encounter saw the Indian team register a thumping 8-wicket win over Scotland. The result keeps India still in contention for a semi-final spot, although they don’t have much control over their fate anymore.
A couple of crushing defeats in their opening clashes against Pakistan and New Zealand has put the men-in-blue at a spot where they’ll be relying for other results to go their way. More specifically, India and Indian fans will be pinning all their beliefs on Afghanistan on their final group stage match against New Zealand.
All hopes pinned on Afghanistan
Should the Mohammed Nabi-led squad manage to overcome Kane Williamson’s dominating Kiwi side, then- and only then- will India be able to make their way into the knockouts stage of the tournament, owing to a superior Net Run Rate (NRR).
The media and cricketing fraternity have been putting a lot of emphasis on the Afghanistan-New Zealand result. Earlier this week, India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin politely offered to refer Afghan spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rehman to the Indian team’s physiotherapist, so that the latter could be a match-fit for the all-important clash.
But it would appear that no one would be more candid than India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja when inquired about the significance of that game. Following his man-of-the-match spell of 4-0-15-3 against Scotland, Sir Jadeja appeared in the post-match conference to address the media.
Ravindra Jadeja’s candid answer to the New Zealand-Afghanistan game scenarios
During his interview, one of the reporters asked him about the Indian team’s plans should New Zealand defeat Afghanistan and knock India out of the playoffs race. And sir Jadeja responded with one of the simplest strategies anyone could ever come up with on the cricket field.
Question: There are talks going around that if New Zealand lost to Afghanistan, our chances brighten. But what if New Zealand don’t lose to Afghanistan?
Jadeja: Toh phir… bag pack karke ghar Jayenge, aur kya? (We’ll pack our bags and head home, what else?).
The crisp, candid response left many of the personnel gathered in splits. Here’s a video showing how the live interaction went.
"Toh phir aur bag pack karke ghar jayenge, aur kya"😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/V6DE71UcM0
— maddy (@224notout) November 5, 2021
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Besides Jadeja’s 3-fer, KL Rahul also starred in the Indian run-chase with a blistering 18-ball 50. In fact, it was Rahul and Rohit Sharma’s opening blitz at the top of the order that powered India to 82/2 to in the powerplay in their pursuit of 86.
India needed to chase down the total inside 7.1 overs to overtake NZ and AFG on the NRR front. With that particular goal now accomplished, India will be pinning all their hopes on Afghanistan, while also aiming to finish the group stage with a resounding win over Namibia.
