During their opening Super Eight encounter of the T20 World Cup in Ahmedabad on Sunday, a strong South African team that appears prepared to uncover weaknesses in the Indian armour will put captain Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma’s redesigned strategy of dropping anchor rather than going for big strokes to the test.
The reigning champions will be aware of the task because the Proteas team has a strong bowling lineup that includes Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, and Aiden Markram.
On Sunday night, the two teams will play for the sixth time in the past two months, and it is unclear which team will benefit more from the familiarity. At the group league stage, India hasn’t exactly been questioned in-depth, but the home favorites are fully aware that their batting has fallen far short of expectations.
With the exception of opener Ishan Kishan, who has two fifties and a strike rate of 202, the other three batters in the top four haven’t exactly lit the stage on fire thus far.
Abhishek Sharma is literally out of runs with three ducks and although Suryakumar and Tilak may defend playing an anchor position, the Mumbai Indians teammates haven’t looked particularly slick on tracks where the ball is gripping.
Hardik Pandya (strike rate of 155) and Shivam Dube (strike rate of 178) are giving the brute force that India has needed to score runs. It would be intriguing to observe if captain Markram chooses to bowl off-breaks in the Powerplay after Abhishek was dismissed by off-spinners twice in a row.
Tilak’s scratchy batting during the first leg cannot be ignored, even though Abhishek’s form is still a worry. He scored 25 off 24 balls against Pakistan, 25 off 21 against Namibia, and a laborious 31 off 27 balls against the Netherlands. Compared to his career average of 141, his strike rate in the event is just over 120, which is much lower.
Suryakumar hasn’t shown much fluidity in his batting against Pakistan or the Netherlands, with the exception of his game-winning 84 not out off 49 balls against a US attack that lost two of its bowlers due to hamstring injury. His career strike rate of 163+ is far higher than his tournament strike rate of 136+.
Two batsmen who are unable to score freely on sticky pitches are unaffordable for an Indian team that plays with eight batters and believes in going all out regardless of the opposition or surface. Discretion isn’t always the better part of bravery in competitions like the T20 World Cup.
This squad’s overall quality is indisputable, which explains why this Indian team scores close to 200 on normal days whereas good teams score 200 on their best days. With Varun Chakravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah bowling those eight out of 20 overs, India’s bowling attack is what makes them a formidable opponent and a clear favorite.
None of the four teams, including a mediocre Pakistani team, were able to negotiate the duo in the first round. Bumrah, as frugal as ever in his three games, has gone for only six runs per over, while Chakravarthy, who has taken nine wickets in four games, has bowled at an incredible economy rate of 5.16.
However, the entire bowling unit will have to perform well against a batting lineup that is in form and has big hitters like Quinton de Kock, Markram, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickleton, David Miller, and Marco Jansen in its top seven. The outcome of this Indian team’s campaign at the end of the tournament will be determined by the South Africa encounter.
Axar Patel will return after a one-match layoff to replace Washington Sundar, and India is anticipated to start Kuldeep Yadav in lieu of Arshdeep Singh. Regarding South Africa, Jansen, Ngidi, and Maharaj—all of whom were rested against the United Arab Emirates—will return.
Squads:
India: Suyakumar Yadav (captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, 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 (wk), Ryan Rickleton, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj, Corbin Bosch, Anrich Nortje, Kwena Maphaka, George Linde, Jason Smith
