Ind vs SA, preview: Men in Blue face Proteas challenge with eye on consolidating top spot in T20 World Cup standings

Ind vs SA, preview: Men in Blue face Proteas challenge with eye on consolidating top spot in T20 World Cup standings

A win will consolidate India’s position as No. 1 team in the Group 2, and it will also guarantee them a place in the semifinals

G UnnikrishnanUpdated: Saturday, October 29, 2022, 06:18 PM IST
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Perth: India and South Africa will play against each other in a T20I match for 8th time in 2022 on Sunday but this one will interest fans from both the sides more intently.  

This time around India will face South Africa in a T20 World Cup 2022 match here at the Optus Stadium which will have a big impact on the teams’ standing in the quadrennial extravaganza.

India are on top of the group with 4 points while South Africa are tailing them with 3 points. A win will consolidate India’s position as No. 1 team in the Group 2, and it will also guarantee them a place in the semifinals. 

South Africa would want to grab that privilege from India as the Proteas can go atop the table with 5 points in case of a win, and progress to the last four that much closer. But both the protagonists will also have an eye on the weather chart for Sunday before assembling at the Optus Stadium here. 

India looked the settled lot while securing 2 wins on the bounce in the tournament against Pakistan and Netherlands but it is not that they don’t have the worry points. 

Focus on KL Rahul

India will be eager for KL Rahul to fire as his early dismissals have placed a tad strain on the middle-order, though the form of Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav has masked it well. 

However, leaving the job to the middle-order all the time will not be feasible for India in a multi-nation tournament. There have been some whispers about India bringing in Rishabh Pant in place of Rahul to pair with captain Rohit Sharma at the totem pole position. 

They argue that the move will also help India to draft in a left-hander in the playing 11 as currently it is an all-right-hand line-up. However, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour did not concur. 

“No, we're not really thinking that. Two games, I don't think that's a good enough sample size anyways. He's been batting really well and he's batted really well in the practice games, also, so we're not looking at any such thing at the moment,” said Rathour in the pre-match press conference. 

Opening issues for SA

Similarly, South Africa also have a problem upfront as captain and opener Temba Bavuma has not looked the part one bit so far. Quinton de Kock has been doing all the running so far. 

It would be kind of ridiculous to replace the captain in the middle of the tournament and that too because of precious little contribution from him. 

SA pacer Anrich Nortje expected the top order (read Bavuma) to click sooner than later. 

“I think the guys have been batting really well. I think we've had very good starts, and the team has really been—they've really been sort of sticking to their game. Guys have been sticking to what they've been training, what they've been doing throughout the season, and it's just about executing. 

“So, I think the team has really stuck well with their philosophy and structure about how to go about things. Hopefully, we can continue the way we've been going,” Nortje said. 

But those minor sore points apart, both India and SA have a clutch of players who can set the field on fire. After all, battles between equals have always produced sparks aplenty.

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