ICC T20 World Cup 2026: The Indian cricket team are getting ready for their game against Namibia on February 12. The Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi has a major problem that has nothing to do with how well the other team play. In February, temperatures in North India drop fast once the sun goes down.

This always causes heavy dew to settle all over the grass. So, the coin toss matters more than anything else in the game. It’s more important than the team lineup or how well the players are hitting.

Suryakumar Yadav might realise his captaincy skills don’t matter nearly as much as picking heads or tails right. If he loses the toss and India have to bowl second, the damp conditions will take away his bowlers' best weapons. It will turn an easy win into a desperate struggle.

Here is why the coin flip matters so much for this game:

Moisture Kills Grip and Turn

Dew is a huge equaliser in short-format cricket. It basically turns the ball into a bar of soap. When the outfield gets wet, the ball soaks up water. It swells slightly and becomes slippery.

Spinners need their fingers to grip the leather seam to spin the ball. But once the ball is soaked, the bowler can’t get any purchase on it. They have to bowl faster and flatter just to keep control. That makes it easy for batters to see the ball and hit it.

Varun Chakravarthy’s Problem

These conditions are a nightmare for mystery spinners. Varun Chakravarthy uses a tricky finger flick to fool batters. He has to squeeze the ball to make it change direction. If the ball is soaking wet, it just slides out of his hand.

That ruins the whole trick. He ends up bowling like a slow medium-pacer with no swing at all. This is exactly what batters want when they are looking to score fast. Without a dry ball, his main threat is gone, and the rest of the bowlers are left unprotected.

The Ahmedabad Connection

Ahmedabad has the exact same problem this time of year. Teams find it much easier to bat second. The ball zips onto the bat nicely; meanwhile, bowlers struggle to control where it goes.

A captain who loses the toss in Delhi or Ahmedabad starts the second half of the game with a massive disadvantage. The wet conditions stop the bowlers from using the plans they have practised in the nets.

SKY’s Captaincy Comes Down to Luck

Suryakumar Yadav loves to be aggressive with his field settings and bowling moves. However, a wet ball takes those choices away from him. He can’t ask his spinners to loop the ball if they can’t hold it.

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SKY can’t trust his fast bowlers to hit yorkers either, because a slippery ball usually slips into a full toss. In the end, luck will judge his leadership competence more than his actual cricket brain.