T20 World Cup: India vs New Zealand Super 12 Match is here and it is no less than a knock-out game, perhaps not in practice, but definitely in theory. Only two out of the six teams in Group 2 can go through the semis. India will have to win four out of the four remaining matches to secure a semi-final berth. Thus, Dinesh Karthik feels that Sunday's match is going to be like a quarter-final for India.
Another reason for stating this is the fact that India plays Afghanistan, Scotland, and Namibia after Sunday's match, who are relatively easier opponents, thus, if India wins against New Zealand, the road to the semis would become smooth.
"This is a quarter-final for India. They know it. If they get through tomorrow's game, they know that they have a pretty easy, well it's not easy because there's Afghanistan there but you would like to think there is a good chance to move forward in this tournament with a win," said Karthik in a video on Cricbuzz.
The former wicket-keeper was chatting with Michael Vaughan. "I'm really excited to see how India is going to shape up against New Zealand," he added.
"I think India need to go for it a bit more with the bat. If they want to win this World Cup, they will want to go for it. They are a little bit too safe. They have wonderful talent and wonderful batters that can play an aggressive game pretty much from ball one and all the way down to the 20th over".
Dinesh Karthik urged the Indian batsmen to go hard at the bowlers from the word go. He said that India has been tentative with the bat and need to get rid of that if they have to win big matches. "The old days of knocking it around and hanging in there won't win you games against England and Pakistan," said Karthik.
The match will be played at Dubai International Stadium at 7:30 pm on Sunday.