After grabbing their first two points of the tournament last game, India will take on Scotland in an attempt to get two more and keep their net run rate number reasonably high. While qualification still hangs on the thread for India, a big win will be a much-needed boost for the scenario to work in their favour.

Ahead of yet another must-win game for India, here are a few points to be kept in mind:

Indian batters find form

Indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma went through two lean games before freeing their arms to register a 140-run partnership in the previous game against Afghanistan. Rahul’s 69 (48) and Rohit’s 74 (47) put the opponents in a spot of bother even before the first half of the match concluded, and the Men in Blue will be looking for a repeat performance from them.

Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, both of whom were promoted up the order in the game against Afghanistan, made quick and useful contributions. Pant’s 27* (13) and Pandya’s 35* (13) send India across 200 fairly easily.

Indian bowlers deliver

Before this game against Afghanistan, only Jasprit Bumrah among the Indian bowlers had taken any wickets at all. In this game, Mohammed Shami came to the party, picking three wickets and almost a hat-trick in the 19th over.

R Ashwin picked his first T20I wickets since 2016 with two convincing scalps of Gulbadin Naib and Najibullah Zadran and ended with 2/14. Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja took one wicket each. The bowling unit will look to continue to attack.

Scotland in the Group stage

Scotland started their group stage with a massive 130-run loss, a contest that gave Afghanistan a big jump run-rate wise. It was followed by a 4-wicket loss against Namibia and most recently, a 16-run loss against New Zealand.

The recent game against the Black Caps was one where Scotland showed enough skill and temperament to win it. They were as close as one good death over or a couple of good overs with the bat. They will look to better or repeat this performance to secure their first win, despite already being knocked out of the tournament.

Michael Laesk among runs

Scotland’s middle order batter Michael Laesk can potentially win games for the team. Against New Zealand, he scored fiery 42* (20) and 44 (27) against Namibia. His strike rate is a massive 164, the third highest in the tournament among those who have faced at least 50 deliveries. Scotland will be hoping for a stellar show from this man, who can also be handy with the ball.

India back at Dubai

India will come back to Dubai, where they suffered two back-to-back losses before heading to Abu Dhabi for a win. While the pitch is reportedly getting better for batting, bowlers will still get ample help to make it their hunting ground.

The last time the two teams were scheduled to take on each other in a T20I was in the 2007 T20 WC. However, the game was washed away without a ball being bowled, and when this match gets completed, it’ll be the only T20I the two teams would’ve played against each other.

India and Scotland will lock horns on 5th November, 2021, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.