India and Namibia have played only one game in their cricketing history

The ICC T20 World Cup is in full swing, and the Men in Blue are now putting time in the nets for their next group match against Team Namibia. In the first match, India struggled but emerged victorious against the United States of America, which is often considered a minnow nation. Namibia is also a minnow nation, and unlike India, it will play its opening game of the tournament against the Men in Blue.

Given that Namibia is sort of an emerging nation in cricket, there is no history between India and them. However, ahead of the game, let us look at whatever little history and details are available between the two sides, as well as what AI has predicted for their upcoming game.

India vs. Namibia in T20

India and Namibia have played only one game of T20I against each other. The game took place five years ago during the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. The Indian bowling department restricted Namibia to 132 runs when they batted first, with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja taking three wickets each.

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In the second innings, India’s Lokesh Rahul scored 54 runs, whereas Rohit Sharma added 56 runs and Suryakumar Yadav made 25. The Men in Blue won the game by nine wickets in 15.2 overs.

Recent outcome

On February 6, Namibia played a warm-up game against the India A side and suffered a horrible defeat. Batting first, players such as Naman Dhir, Riyan Parag, and Ashutosh Sharma scored 39, 69, and 35 runs, respectively, helping India reach a mammoth target of 197 runs.

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In response, the Namibian side was wrapped at merely 67 runs as nine players failed to score in the double digits. In India’s bowling department, four Indian players, Gurjapneet Singh, Mayank Yadav, Ashok Sharma, and Vipraj Nigam, picked up four wickets each.

AI’s predicted XI

India: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah.

Namibia: Louren Steenkamp, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus, JJ Smit, Zane Green, Dylan Leicher, Willem Myburgh, Bernard Scholtz, Max Heingo and Ruben Trumpelmann.

No surprises

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There’s no doubt that India will end up as the winning side. AI predicted that if India bats first, the team will score above 180 runs and restrict Namibia to 120-130 runs, winning the game by a margin of over 50-60 runs. If Namibia bats first, the team will manage only 120-130 runs, and India will chase the target quickly without the need for playing all 20 overs.