Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus has expressed concerns over the practice arrangements for his team’s big match against the Indian national cricket team in Delhi.
The two sides will meet in a night match on February 12 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium during the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. But Namibia did not train under lights ahead of the match.
Namibia previously played the Netherlands in a morning match at the same location. Before facing India, they only got training from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM on the eve of the match.
Erasmus said his team was not offered a night session even though India trained under lights on both February 10 and 11. Canada also had a night session on February 11.
“Yes, we didn’t get any night training for this match, I don’t know why. I think India has two night training sessions and I see outside that Canada will now have a night training session, so make of that what you will, but we will just get up and do our Namibian way, which is to fight,” Erasmus said.
He made it clear that training under lights is no small matter for his players.
“We don’t have floodlights in Namibia… the day/night games,” he added, pointing to the lack of facilities at home.
Erasmus explained that most of his team is not used to playing under lights regularly. Only those who have played in leagues like Nepal Premier League, ILT20 or previous World Cups have any experience.
“In terms of infrastructure, this is probably the challenge for us, so yeah, it’s not just something for guys who don’t have experience… you don’t really get used to light and you don’t train under it very often,” he said.
Namibia is a clear underdog in this game. They also want to recover after the defeat against the Netherlands in the previous match.
Yet the African side sees a small opportunity. India have had some batting battles of late, and Namibia will hope to apply early pressure if light conditions help.
After facing India, Namibia will travel to Chennai to play USA on February 15 and then take on Pakistan in Colombo on February 18. India’s next big test is also against Pakistan.
For now, all eyes are on Delhi. Namibia feels there is no level playing field, but Erasmus insists his team will compete hard.
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