Match 5: India vs South Africa: Preview
Saturday, May 1, 2010
11:32 PM
Labels: 2010 Group C , 2010 India , 2010 South Africa , 2010 World Cup , 0 comments
India and South Africa will go into the match hoping to win and thus to firm up their claim to World T20 title. Expect lot of guile and tactics being played out when South Africa is on field. On the other hand, Indians have become more flamboyant with their cricketing success in last few years.
On the evidence available so far, the pitches are not the batting-fests that people got used to during most of the IPL, and the boundaries are over 80 m. That has, so far, provided for a compelling battle, where 140 is a good score, and 160 a match-winning one in all probability.
India did win against Afghanistan less than 24 hours before they will take on South Africa, but they will not bank too much on that win, though it would have been good for them in terms of easing into the tournament. However, all easing is done with and dusted, with South Africa being anything but easy opponents.
From India's point of view, amongst the positives from the Afghanistan match was that Yuvraj Singh spent some time at the crease and remained undefeated. A free-flowing Yuvraj is essential to India's fortunes, and the only way he will regain his touch is by spending time at the crease. The bowling was not too inspiring, even though Afghanistan were restricted to 115/8, but considering that India got to bowl first on an early morning pitch that had something in it for the bowlers, India should have been aiming to keep them below 100. Against the likes of Albie Morkel in the death overs, loose bowling will be severely punished.
South Africa have been traditionally better on faster pitches, so the slow ones in the West Indies won't be wholly to their liking, but they are no mugs on slow surfaces. The fact that the game will require less outright hitting from the start, should suit Jacques Kallis, who showed in the IPL that he is at his best when allowed to construct an innings at a reasonable strike-rate in Twenty20s. Of their top-order batting though, not too many impressed in the IPL. AB de Villiers was strangely off-colour, JP Duminy was decent enough in the chances he got but not outstanding, and Herschelle Gibbs was disappointing. Graeme Smith, of course, did not take part in most of the tournament, while Boucher and van der Merwe had to watch from the sidelines. Dale Steyn was impressive though, as was Langeveldt in the limited chances he got. The Indians had come a cropper against the short ball in the last Twenty20 World Cup, and Steyn is certain to pepper the batsmen with the short stuff. Since South Africa have both Kallis and Albie Morkel who can bowl at decent pace, they will consider including both Roelof van der Merwe and Johan Botha in the line-up, which would mean that Rory Kleinveldt and Morne Morkel would miss out.
Both teams carry big expectations with them, and both are part of the pre-tournament front-runners pack. Although this match is not likely to have any impact on qualifying for the next round, there is no question that both teams will want the confidence of a win against a major opposition before the Super Eights.
On the evidence available so far, the pitches are not the batting-fests that people got used to during most of the IPL, and the boundaries are over 80 m. That has, so far, provided for a compelling battle, where 140 is a good score, and 160 a match-winning one in all probability.
India did win against Afghanistan less than 24 hours before they will take on South Africa, but they will not bank too much on that win, though it would have been good for them in terms of easing into the tournament. However, all easing is done with and dusted, with South Africa being anything but easy opponents.
From India's point of view, amongst the positives from the Afghanistan match was that Yuvraj Singh spent some time at the crease and remained undefeated. A free-flowing Yuvraj is essential to India's fortunes, and the only way he will regain his touch is by spending time at the crease. The bowling was not too inspiring, even though Afghanistan were restricted to 115/8, but considering that India got to bowl first on an early morning pitch that had something in it for the bowlers, India should have been aiming to keep them below 100. Against the likes of Albie Morkel in the death overs, loose bowling will be severely punished.
South Africa have been traditionally better on faster pitches, so the slow ones in the West Indies won't be wholly to their liking, but they are no mugs on slow surfaces. The fact that the game will require less outright hitting from the start, should suit Jacques Kallis, who showed in the IPL that he is at his best when allowed to construct an innings at a reasonable strike-rate in Twenty20s. Of their top-order batting though, not too many impressed in the IPL. AB de Villiers was strangely off-colour, JP Duminy was decent enough in the chances he got but not outstanding, and Herschelle Gibbs was disappointing. Graeme Smith, of course, did not take part in most of the tournament, while Boucher and van der Merwe had to watch from the sidelines. Dale Steyn was impressive though, as was Langeveldt in the limited chances he got. The Indians had come a cropper against the short ball in the last Twenty20 World Cup, and Steyn is certain to pepper the batsmen with the short stuff. Since South Africa have both Kallis and Albie Morkel who can bowl at decent pace, they will consider including both Roelof van der Merwe and Johan Botha in the line-up, which would mean that Rory Kleinveldt and Morne Morkel would miss out.
Both teams carry big expectations with them, and both are part of the pre-tournament front-runners pack. Although this match is not likely to have any impact on qualifying for the next round, there is no question that both teams will want the confidence of a win against a major opposition before the Super Eights.
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