Internet Desk: As the Blue colts are gearing up to face Australia in the ICC U19 World Cup opener on Sunday, we will discuss about five crucial talking points ahead of the match.
Ground: Bay Oval (also known as Blake Park) is a cricket ground in Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. It hosted its first ODI on January 28, 2014 between Canada and Netherlands as part of the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. It has a capacity of 10,000.
Pitch: It will be a fast and seaming wicket at the Bay Oval and Indian batsmen have to handle the Aussie pace attack carefully if they want to put pressure on their opponent. India also has a very good pace attack of comprised of Ishan Porel and Shivam Mavi.
Conditions: It has been raining in Bay Oval since last night and there is a threat of rain on the match day as well. It would be very windy there and it would me interesting to see whether the ball seam much in the overcast conditions.
Key Players: India skipper Prithvi Shaw is the vital cog in the team’s batting wheel. Beside that there would be Himanshu Rana, who has scored plenty of runs in Youth ODIs. In the bowling department Ishan Porel is set to spearhead the pace attack and he could be complemented by Shivam Mavi, who will be aided by the seaming conditions in this part of the world. On the other hand Australia captain Jason Sangha has also made a mark in the domestic scene and adding to the tournament flavor will be the son of Steve Waugh, Austin. Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland’s son Will is also in the national squad.
Preview: It would be interesting to know what is the future of Indian cricket as the talented U19 colts are ready to face Australia in their opening match of the ICC U19 World Cup on Sunday. With a coach like Rahul Dravid, it is expected that the Blue colts will perform well in the tournament as they have already acclimatized to the conditions as they have arrived in New Zealand many days ahead of the tournament.