India travel to Japan to take the hosts on in a one-off Twenty20 International before embarking on their Asian Games gold medal defence in Aichi-Nagoya. This one-off T20I with the host country will be played at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Sano, Kanto on Tuesday, September 22. India arrive here after whitewashing their north-western neighbours Afghanistan by a 3-0 scoreline in Delhi. This means that the Men in Blue are in excellent form, and are likely to blow the Japanese away. The home team, for their part, do not have any players who possess as much potential as the Indians do.
Japan will rely heavily on individuals such as Kendel Fleming and Charlie Hara-Hinze, who have experience of playing at least club-level cricket overseas. Nonetheless, it is not the same as having senior players in one's team who have a wealth of experience in international cricket. Therefore, this game will act mainly as a learning curve for the Japanese. Having just dipped their toes into the sport, the home team will use this encounter with the Indians to learn about new techniques, strategies and tactics to get better. Challenging the Indians is out of the question, but if Japan manage to even put up a fight against the defending World T20 Champions, they will consider it a leap forward.
Predicted Teams
JAP: Kendel Fleming (c), Kohei Kubota, Declan Suzuki, Alester Fleming, Makoto Taniyama, Benjamin Ito Davis, Wataru Miyauchi (wk), Shoma Slater, Ibrahim Takahashi, Jake Kusuda-Nairn, Charlie Hara-Hinze.
IND: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.
Key Players
Charlie Hara-Hinze (JAP): Charlie Hara-Hinze is one of the most promising players to come out of Japan's stables. Born as recently as 2008, the left-arm orthodox spinner is known for his ability to fox batters in the air. He has a natural tendency to give the ball air, which, in turn, gives it some overspin. Hara-Hinze, despite his years, has already played 37 T20Is for the Japan national team. His captain, Kendel Fleming, will hope that Hara-Hinze is able to keep the middle overs quiet against India.
Abhishek Sharma (IND): If fans needed any reminding of Abhishek Sharma's prowess with the bat, he provided it with a thirty-ball century against Afghanistan on Thursday. Sharma single-handedly helped his team whitewash their opponents before setting sail for Japan. The explosive opener is known for his fearless attitude. He rarely cares about the reputation of bowlers and plays strokes based on a ball's merit. This makes Sharma one of the most dangerous strikers of a cricket ball. The fact that he usually plays with a straight bat also helps his cause.
Match Prediction
India have a big upper hand over their opponents and are expected to coast to a comfortable victory. The Japanese are most likely to get blown away by the breeze called Abhishek Sharma. They will also have to deal with the challenges posed by Jasprit Bumrah with the new ball. Japan's players do not have the experience of playing at such a level and therefore, will take some time to adjust. For India, this will be no more than a comfortable walk in the park in the autumn sunshine in Sano.