Shastri-Kohli partnership eyes winning end to significant chapter in Indian cricket

Dubai: Outgoing head coach Ravi Shastri and skipper Virat Kohli, who will lead the country for one last time in the shortest format, would aim to finish India's underwhelming T20 World Cup campaign on a positive note with a victory over Namibia in the team's final Super 12 match here on Monday.

Around 6:30 pm, New Zealand hit the winning runs against Afghanistan much to the disappointment of the Indian fans, who were hoping against hope that a miracle will happen under the blazing afternoon sun at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

The mood in the Indian camp was evident when BCCI's official media whataspp group had a message for the journalists "The optional training session in the evening has been cancelled."

It was understandable dejection as for first time since the 2012 edition of this event, India had failed to make the knockout stage of an ICC event.

The Indian players, who kept an eye on the TV watching Afghanistan battle it out against the Black Caps, knew by the halfway stage of the game that all of them would now have to take the flight back to their respective cities on Tuesday, a welcome break from the bio-bubble but not in the way they would have liked.

Against Namibia, they will surely win it big and skipper Kohli would do a world of good if he allows the likes of Rahul Chahar get a game and give Ishan Kishan another go. The senior players would gain precious little against the David Wieses of the world save for beefing up their individual statistics.

Very rarely has an Indian team played such an inconsequential game at an ICC event since its last league game in the 1992 World Cup against South Africa after already being out of the race for the

semi-finals.