This Namibian bowler troubled Team IndiaImage Credit source: PTI
The start of T20 World Cup 2026 has been good for the Indian cricket team in terms of results. The team won both its matches played in the group stage and thus almost confirmed its place in the Super-8 round. Results are most important but apart from that, Team India’s performance in both these matches has not been as per expectations. Especially the batting has disappointed at different times in both the matches. Especially against Namibia, one bowler caused such trouble, which proved to be a serious warning before the next match against Pakistan.
Match played between India and Namibia in New Delhi team india Won by 93 runs. This victory is so big that for once it is difficult to guess that India would have faced any kind of problem in this match. Team India made a big score of 209 runs and then bowled out Namibia for just 116 runs. Despite such a big score and an easy win, this match came as a serious warning for the Indian batsmen, which can prove to be important in the match against Pakistan.
Alarm bells rung against Namibia
Actually, Team India made a big score against Namibia but its captain Gerhard Erasmus troubled the Indian batsmen badly. Erasmus gave only 20 runs in a spell of 4 overs and took 4 wickets, out of which 2 wickets came in a single over. While the rest of Namibia’s bowlers kept getting beaten throughout the innings, the off-break bowling bowler Erasmus gave a tough time to the Indian batsmen. During this time, he returned Ishan Kishan, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya and Akshar Patel to the pavilion.
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But what does Team India’s performance against Erasmus have to do with Pakistan? If this question has arisen in your mind too, then its answer is not very difficult to understand. In fact, India will have to face a bowler with exactly the same action as the Namibian captain bowls against Pakistan. Gerhard Erasmus’ action is not ‘high arm’ like a traditional spinner, but ‘side arm’ or ‘sling’ style, in which the ball is released from the side rather than over the head. Like Kedar Jadhav used to do in Team India and then Riyan Parag has also been doing it.
This bowler of Pakistan will become a problem
The off-spin bowling done by this action of Erasmus troubled the Indian batsmen a lot. When Team India will face Pakistan on February 15 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, then in that match it will have to face Usman Tariq, a spinner with an action like that of Erasmus, who has been in the headlines for the last few days due to this reason. Usman Tariq also bowls off break with ‘side arm’ action.
But still Usman Tariq is a more challenging bowler than Erasmus because he waits for one and a half seconds before releasing the ball. This creates a situation of uncertainty for the batsmen. Also, with the same action, he often bowls straight fast balls instead of off-breaks and in such situations it becomes difficult to face him. This is the reason why he has taken 11 wickets in only 4 T20 International matches in his career, whereas he has taken 70 wickets in 42 T20 matches alone. In such a situation, if Team India wants to register victory over Pakistan, then it will have to be very careful in these 4 overs.
