IND vs SA: India's first encounter with South Africa in Super-8
Digital Desk, Jagran Delhi. There will be a clash between two unbeaten teams in the Super-8 stage of the T20 World Cup on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. On one side is the Indian team led by Suryakumar Yadav and on the other side is South Africa under the captaincy of Aiden Markram. Both have not lost a single match in the group stage, but the winning streak of one team is sure to stop on Sunday.
The final match of the 2024 T20 World Cup was played between India and South Africa and once again cricket lovers will get to see an exciting match between these two teams.
IND vs SA: India's first encounter with South Africa in Super-8
The South African team has a strong bowling attack in the form of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jensen, Keshav Maharaj and Aiden Markram and is ready to give a tough test to the defending champions India. The Indian team did not face much challenge in the group stage but they are well aware that their batting needs a lot of improvement.
Apart from opening batsman Ishan Kishan, the other three batsmen in the top four have not shown any special talent so far. Abhishek Sharma has been out for zero in three consecutive matches and is waiting for his first run in the tournament.
Although Suryakumar and Tilak have played the role of facilitators, both of them have not performed comfortably on such pitches where the ball is coming at a standstill.
India have also been largely dependent on Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dubey to score runs. The team will again expect good performance from these two all-rounders. Abhishek has been out to off-spinners twice in a row and hence it will be interesting to see whether South Africa captain Markram decides to bowl off-break in the powerplay or not.
Amidst Abhishek's form, Tilak Verma's poor batting cannot be ignored. Tilak scored 25 runs in 24 balls against Pakistan, 25 runs in 21 balls against Namibia and 31 runs in 27 balls against Netherlands. In this way, he has been struggling to score runs in most of the matches till now. His strike rate in the tournament is just above 120, which is much lower than his career strike rate of 141. Suryakumar has not shown anything special after playing the match-winning innings of 84 runs against America.
He did not look very comfortable in his batting against Pakistan or Netherlands. His strike rate in the tournament is 136, which is much lower than his career strike rate of more than 163. An Indian team that plays with eight batsmen and believes in playing to its full potential regardless of the opposition and the pitch, cannot afford to have two batsmen who are struggling to score runs freely on pitches where the ball is coming at a standstill.
But what makes India a dangerous team and still strong contenders for the title, is their bowling attack which includes crucial eight overs from Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy. But the entire bowling unit will have to perform well against talented batsmen like Quinton de Kock Markram, Dewald Brewis, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, David Miller and Jensen.
Why are people worried about Abhishek's form?
On the question regarding Abhishek's form, Indian captain Suryakumar said that I am worried about those who are worried about Abhishek's form. Why is he so worried about Abhishek's form? Last year Abhishek covered all of us and now it is our responsibility to cover him.
On the eve of the match, Surya said that I am thinking about the teams that are going to play against him who have not scored a single run. You know the rest of the answers. What happens when he scores runs? This keeps happening in team sports. The team needs a certain type of game from Abhishek and that is what he is trying to do. We don't want him to lose his identity.
Both teams like this
India: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dubey, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Sanju Samson (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh.
South Africa: Aiden Markram (captain), Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brewis, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Marco Jensen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj, Corbyn Bash, Anrich Nortje, Kwena Mafaka, George Linde, Jason Smith.
This match will be played on a black soil pitch, which cannot be helpful for spinners. This situation has put the team management in a dilemma whether it would be better to choose an extra spinner or an extra fast bowler. Vice-captain Akshar Patel expected to return in place of Washington Sundar. Kuldeep bowled to Ishaan and Rinku in practice, which indicates that Arshdeep may be included in the game.
Also read- IND vs SA Weather Report: Rain will become the villain in the India-South Africa match! How will be the weather of Ahmedabad?
Also read- IND vs SA Head To Head: Who has the upper hand between India and South Africa? T20 statistics will surprise you
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