DHARAMSALA: Ever since this World Cup began, one of the key talking points has been the lack of buzz in the cities that are hosting the tournament in the lead-up to the games. Dharamshala, however, seems different. Long before one enters the city — from where the Kangra district begins — welcome billboards can be seen on almost every other lamp post or pillar on the sidelines of the roads with pictures of Anurag Thakur, union minister of youth affairs and sports, and Arun Dhumal, IPL governing council chairman.
And when you enter Dharamsala, the World Cup and upcoming India-New Zealand match set to be played at the scenic HPCA Stadium, which features several murals of Anurag, are the talk of the town. The buses that arrive at the town are filled with fans and so are most of the hotels. Located in the foothills of the Dhauladhar Range — the first snowfall of the season happened about a week ago — the tourist city is already filled with people who are vacationing. They too are hogging around the stadium, trying to get a glimpse of the cricketers and see if they could get tickets.
Dhumal says that the festive season in the state has helped in creating the buzz as well. “There is a lot of excitement in the state and entire region about the matches being allotted to Dharamsala. This being a festive season and Kullu Dussehra (a famous Hindu festival observed in Himachal Pradesh) starting in a couple of days, there is a lot of excitement as such and that has helped in the excitement about the World Cup games as well,” Dhumal told The New Indian Express.
While it is easier to be lost in the beauty of the city, inside the HPCA Stadium, the cricket is intense. The current table toppers in the World Cup — India and New Zealand — will be taking on each other in a high-octane clash on Sunday. After sweating it out in the heat of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai, Dharamsala would feel like home for the Black Caps. There’s moisture in the air, the conditions are the closest they could get to New Zealand in this country with the temperature lingering around 15 degrees Celsius. The good news for them is that they have their full-strength pace attack available for selection — Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson. And the contest could be between the attacking Indian top-order — Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli — and Black Caps pace attack. “That's going to be a great contest with bat and ball and obviously vice versa with Indian seamers in our top order,” said New Zealand skipper Tom Latham.
For India, the muddle lies in the middle-order. With Hardik Pandya missing the game due to an ankle injury, their preferred balance is thrown out and India are in a place to make forced changes. While head coach Rahul Dravid made it clear that they know the playing XI for Sunday, he admitted that the team might not be as balanced as it was. “In the end, we've got to work with the 14 that we've got. We will have to see what works best for these conditions and these wickets. But yeah, probably might not have the kind of balance that we probably used in the first four games,” he said on Saturday.
There are a number of combinations that could come into play — Ishan Kishan in place of Pandya, or so can Suryakumar Yadav; Mohammed Shami and R Ashwin also could come into play depending on whether they want Shardul Thakur in the playing XI. What perhaps did not help is the fact that Kishan was stung by a bee and walked off the nets. Yadav, less than ten minutes after entering the nets, was hit in the wrists by a full toss while facing throw-down specialist Raghu Raghavendra. He had ice packs on his wrists and walked off with a strapping on his wrists shortly after. Even though he did not bat again, Yadav could still make the XI depending on how his wrists are on Sunday. Earlier, Dravid had called Yadav as the "enforcer" to bat at No. 6 and take the attack to the opposition.
Historically, New Zealand have been sort of an Achilles heel for India when it comes to ODI World Cups. They have not beaten New Zealand since the 2003 edition and the last time they went against each other, it was a heartbreak for India in the 2019 semifinal.
Dharamsala, which is better suited for their opponents, could have been the last venue where the Men in Blue would have hoped to play New Zealand. How they step up for the litmus test could shape the rest of the campaign for the Indian team.