Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus has expressed his displeasure over his team not getting a night training slot in the lead up to the match against India in Delhi. The match is scheduled to be played on Thursday (February 12).
Namibia’s first game of the tournament was an 11 AM fixture against Netherlands in Delhi earlier this week. On Wednesday (February 11), they opted to practice but had to do it during the 2-5 PM slot. As a result, the Namibia players won’t be getting any training to play under the lights before the game against India which is a night fixture.
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Unlike Namibia, India’s first game of the tournament was a night fixture against the USA in Mumbai. They also trained on February 10 and 11 in the 6-9 PM slot. Interestingly, Canada also trained alongside India on Wednesday at the same time. Canada will be facing UAE on February 13 in a 3 PM fixture.
Gerhard Erasmus unhappy:
With the Namibia players not getting the chance to train under the lights, their captain Gerhard Erasmus did not shy away from venting his displeasure over the same. He pointed out that India trained at night for two days and also mentioned that even Canada trained under the lights. At the same time, Gerhard Erasmus vowed to fight on the field.
“Yeah, we haven’t been given a night training [session] before this game, I don’t know why. I think India has two night training [sessions] and I see outside that Canada will have a night training now, so make of that what you want, but we’ll just rock up and do our Namibian way, which is to fight,” Gerhard Erasmus said on the eve of the game.
Speaking further, the Namibia star also highlighted the reason behind the issue. He stated that the players do not get the chance to train at night in their country because of lack of infrastructure.
“We haven’t got any [flood]lights in Namibia… the day/night games,” Erasmus said. “Infrastructure wise it’s probably the challenge for us, so yeah it’s not a casual thing for guys that don’t have [experience]… I think barring the guys who played in the Nepal Premier League and the ILT20 and the World Cups that we’ve played, you don’t really get accustomed to lights and training under it very often.”
Namibia eye upset:
While Namibia will be starting the game against India as firm underdogs, they will be hoping to pull off a famous win. Most of India’s batters struggled against USA and Namibia will be taking confidence from it. They have started their campaign with a loss against the Netherlands and will be eager to open their account soon.
After taking on India, they will be facing USA in Chennai on February 15 and Pakistan in Colombo on February 18.
India look to put up a clinical show:
Although India won the game against USA, they had a mighty scare after most of their batters failed to impress. In the end, Suryakumar Yadav‘s brilliant half-century and the bowlers’ fine effort took India home. The hosts will be looking to come up with a better show against Namibia before they face Pakistan on Sunday.
