How will India perform?

India vs South Africa match is going to be very important for both the teams. Both would like to win the match to remain in the tournament, but much will depend on how other matches in the tournament end. So the whole thing of progress to semi finals has become very complicated with not just wins being the deciding factor.

South Africa have lost their last two matches, against Pakistan and Australia. Despite having among the best and most balanced cricket teams, they have not been able to perform well during the whole tournament. This is a bit disappointing seeing the fate of a world class team, unable to perform throughout this important tournament.

There is a sort of impression about the South African team that they give up even before the match ends. They allow the pressure to become unbearable. Their loss against Pakistan was difficult to decipher and Pakistan snatched the victory from jaw of defeat. Despite top class bowling Pakistani tailenders were able to score freely, giving a blow to South African’s chances. Their loss against Australia, the only undefeated team of the group was more one-sided as Australia first bowled them out cheaply and then went on to win the match with huge margin.

Their main problem is the lack of a batsman who takes responsibility and plays a long inning by trying to stay at the crease for at least 10-15 overs. So far that has remained a dream for South African team. Neither Hashim Amla, nor Kallis or any other batsman has been able to do so.

But to say that India will have it easy is nothing short of day-dreaming. India’s aversion to fast bowling is a well-known fact and today they will be tested by the best bowling attack led by Steyn and Morkel. But India team has been blessed by Virat Kohli, like the Australians have been blessed by Watson. Watson has been so impressive with both bat and ball, that he seems to be winning every match for Australia single-handedly. Indian victories have been orchestrated by Virat Kohli’s impressive batting shows. Take him and Indian team gives in meekly.

So will he be able to come out and perform? Indian fans will be praying that he really does well while Protease will be doing everything  to take him early in the inning. Sehwag can also be dangerous, but he has failed to come out with any spectacular inning, so has Dhoni and Sharma.

Dhoni  has used his limited bowling options very cleverly. Will his part timers be as impressive as last match against Pakistan? I am not sure, as South African batting is among the top and part timers will be given good treatment by South African batsmen.

But today history seems to be in India’s side as the team has won four out of the six T20 matches both teams have played in the past. But that can change if South Africa comes up with exceptional show today.

Team South Africa
1 Hashim Amla, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 JP Duminy, 5 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 Robin Peterson, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Johan Botha, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel.

Team India
: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 R Ashwin, 11 Zaheer Khan.

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Posted by admin on October 2, 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry