AUSTRALIA: Today Group B will witness a very exciting match, India vs South Africa, in the Optus Stadium (Perth Stadium) at 4.30 pm IST.
India (4 points) stands now at the top of the table with two wins in two matches. South Africa won one match and shared the point due to rain against Zimbabwe. Both the teams are in good touch so far; who can forget the Heroic innings of Kohli against Pakistan and Rossouw’s Fantastic century against Bangladesh?
Both teams have positive Net Run Rates (NRR), but SA has the highest NRR +5.20 among both groups. The Optus wickets are expected to be quick, as always, and both teams take advantage of that accordingly.
Recently, former Australian skipper Greg Chappel stated, “The Bhagavad Gita is the holy book which is the synthesis of Hinduism. Literally translated, it means “the song by God.” Kohli played an innings that was as close to a ‘song by god’ as has ever been played in T20 cricket,”.
SA will surely be looking to get this man out early in the innings. On the other hand, India will look to de-rail Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw, as they both are in exceptional form. To make next week a little easier for them, India will be conscious of their small lead and would want to maximize it with a victory over South Africa.
With Bangladesh and Zimbabwe left to play, they’ll still want to win at least one more game to ensure that their future is in their own hands, and they’ll bet on themselves to do so.
India will therefore want to win this match, but South Africa practically has to keep their other important match against Pakistan from becoming a game of life or death.
Players to watch out
KL Rahul– At this point, everyone knows that Kohli and Rossouw are the key players, but cricket is a team game, and other players also make key differences. Rahul looked dull in the past two matches, but as the wicket is quite pacy today, he can get going and score something big for India.
Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Shami – These two quick bowlers can make the game for their respective teams. The wicket is quick, as mentioned earlier, and they both have enough experience to know how to take good advantage of pacy wickets.
Squad Status: India vs South Africa
India will probably play with the same team, as they would not want to break the winning side.
India (probable): KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh.
To make room for a fourth fast bowler, South Africa is expected to drop one of their specialist spinners. Tabraiz Shamsi may be among those to go, although Keshav Maharaj can fill in for him in the middle overs.
South Africa (probable): Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma, Rilee Rossouw Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs Wayne Parnell/Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabad.
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