Zero Versus Two: Gerhard Erasmus Questions Variance In Night Training Slots Ahead Of India Face-Off

Training matters, and even more importantly, training in the right conditions. For the Namibia team competing at the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka, according to captain Gerhard Erasmus, it is "not a casual thing for the guys" either.

The Eagles take on co-hosts and defending champions India in a crucial Group A match in Delhi - a prime-time fixture, with a scheduled 7 PM local time kick-off on Thursday (February 12, 2026).

And they were training in the 2-5 PM slots.

Ahead of the match, a perplexed Erasmus discussed why Namibia have not been given a night training slot in the lead-up to their big game. Namibia lost their campaign opener against the Netherlands at the same venue.

Competing in their fourth successive T20 World Cup, Namibia failed to defend a 157-run target at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, losing the match by seven wickets.

With matches against fast-rising United States of America (USA) and former champions Pakistan coming, the outing against India surely presents a big opportunity for Namibia, and they enter the clash without the right, or rather, night simulation.

And the 30-year-old didn't hide his displeasure.

"Yeah, we haven't been given a night training [session] before this game, I don't know why. I think India has two night training [sessions]," the all-rounder said.

Interestingly, Canada, who take on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their next Group C match, accompanied India at the training on Wednesday at the same time slot (6-9 PM). The Canada vs UAE match on Friday is a 3 PM start.

"And I see outside that Canada will have a night training now, so make of that what you want, but we'll just rock up and do our Namibian way, which is to fight," a polite question from the Namibian captain.

Cricket in Namibia is growing, but infrastructure remains a big question. In fact, they don't play day-night games at home due to the lack of floodlights, and the majority of the players have very little experience competing under lights.

"We haven't got any [flood]lights in Namibia... the day-night games," Erasmus said. "Infrastructure-wise, it's probably the challenge for us, so yeah, it's not a casual thing for guys that don't have [experience].

"I think barring the guys who played in the Nepal Premier League and the ILT20 and the World Cups that we've played, you don't really get accustomed to lights and training under it very often," he explained.

After the Delhi outing, they will head to Tamil Nadu, in southern India, for the USA game at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Sunday, then complete the group engagement in Sri Lanka, with the Pakistan fixture at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo.

Namibia reached the Super 12 stage in their T20 World Cup debut in 2021.