Preview: IND v SA – Match 24, ICC WT20

First Published : 01 Oct 2012, 17:27
Last Modified : 02 Oct 2012, 16:19

By: Shirin Sadikot

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What

Match 24 in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20, between India and South Africa. With a loss and a win behind them, India will take field in the Super Eights for the third time.

When

October 2, 2012. It’s the second game of the day and it will begin at 7:30 pm, IST

Where

The R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo – India’s venue for all their games in the tournament so far. South Africa have played both their Super Eights matches – against Pakistan and Australia – on this ground and have lost both games.

The Teams

India:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men have blown hot and cold in the tournament so far. After thrashing England in a Group game, they suffered humiliation at the hands of the Australians in their first Super Eights match. But with a thumping eight-wicket win over Pakistan, the Men in Blue have kept their semi-final hopes alive.

Skipper MS Dhoni has been highly flexible when it comes to picking the playing XI. After trying out a combination of six batsmen and five bowlers unsuccessfully against Australia, he went back to his tried and tested 7-4 combination against Pakistan. Virender Sehwag, who warmed the bench for two matches, was also back in the side. With useful contributions from part-time bowlers like Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli and others, it is likely that the Indian captain will stick with the combination that beat Pakistan.

South Africa:

AB de Villiers and co. entered the Super Eights stage with convincing wins over Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. However, things have gone downhill for the South Africans since then, with a two-wicket loss to Pakistan and an eight-wicket thrashing at the hands of the Aussies.

If consistency can be gauged over four Twenty20 matches, JP Duminy has been South Africa’s best batsman so far in the tournament. Their major worry at this point is their top order. Richard Levi is a gamble. Hashim Amla is yet to master the art of converting starts in this format, something he’s done magnificently in the longer forms. But more than anything else, de Villiers will be hoping for Jacques Kallis to get among runs. An in-form Kallis will have a talismanic effect on the team. With as many as four left-handed batsmen in India’s line-up, the Proteas could also look to replace left-arm spinner Robin Petersen with Albie Morkel. The all-rounder is capable of mighty blows with the bat in the death overs and his experience of bowling on the slow Chennai track during the IPL will bode well for SA.

Key players

India

At times, it looks like India are a bit over-dependent on the ridiculously consistent Virat Kohli. And while there’s nothing wrong in expecting runs from your most in-form batsman, Virat’s role in the match will hugely depend on Virender Sehwag’s willow. After being benched in two matches, the opener came out with a cautious approach against Pakistan and scored a 24-ball 29. In that time, he showed glimpses of his touch with a trademark upper-cut, late cut and flick. If Viru gets going, Dale Steyn and co. will be in for a long day at the office.

South Africa

So far in the competition, the Proteas have been falling short in the batting department. And as mentioned earlier, a lot of it has to do with Jacques Kallis not getting his usual quota of runs. Champions often bring out their A game when the waters are rough. This being a perform-or-perish game for South Africa, expect their best cricketer to make his presence felt.

Trivia

• Virat Kohli has scored more than 25 percent of the runs scored by Indian batsmen in international cricket (Tests / ODIs / T20Is) in the year 2012.
   
• Before the start of World T20, South Africa had won 70 percent of times when they batted first. In the tournament they have lost two out of three games defending a target.

Semi-final qualification scenario

If Australia beat Pakistan and India beat South Africa, Australia and India will make it to the semi-finals. However, if Australia lose to Pakistan and India lose to South Africa, then both India and South Africa will be eliminated; and Australia and Pakistan will go through.

In case Australia beating Pakistan and South Africa beating India, Australia will be through to the semis with 6 points, while all other three teams will be deadlocked on 2 points.Net run-rate will then come into play. Currently, South Africa have the worst NRR (-0.605) in the group. However, it will become better than India’s, if the Proteas beat the Men in Blue by more than three runs. If Australia beat Pakistan by more than 4 runs and South Africa beat India by 3 runs or more, South Africa will be through. India can qualify if Australia beat Pakistan by 4 runs or more and India do not lose to South Africa by more than 3 runs.

If Pakistan beat Australia and then India beat South Africa, then three teams – Pakistan, Australia and India will be tied on 4 points; and South Africa will be eliminated. Net run-rate will again come into play. It is highly unlikely that either India or Pakistan will be able to beat Australia on net run-rate (unless of course Pakistan thrash Australia by a big margin). Australia are thus almost certain of a place in last four even if they lose to Pakistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan are ahead of India on net run-rate (only marginally though) and their net run-rate will only improve with a win over Australia. India will then need to ensure that their winning margin is bigger than Pakistan's. It will be advantageous for India if Pakistan’s margin of win is narrow.

Since India will be playing last, they will be aware of exactly what they require in order to qualify.

Venue stats

India: Played –5, Won – 4, Lost – 1, Tied – 0, No Result – 0

South Africa: Played – 2, Won – 0, Lost – 2, Tied – 0, No Result – 0

Highest total in an innings: England 196/5 in 20.0 overs v Afghanistan – September 21, 2012
 
Lowest total in an innings: Afghanistan 80/10 in 17.2 overs v England - September 21, 2012 and England 80/10 in 14.4 overs v India - September 23, 2012
 
Best individual score in an innings: Luke Wright (England) – 99* v Afghanistan – September 21, 2012
 
Best bowling figures in an innings: Harbhajan Singh (India) – 4.0-2-12-4 v England – September 23, 2012

Average first innings score at R.Premadasa Stadium in T20Is: 155
 

Result summary at R.Premadasa Stadium in T20Is: 
 

Head-to-head:
 

Last T20I encounter between both sides:

Brief scores: March 30, 2012 at Johannesburg

South Africa (219/4) beat India (71/0) by 11 runs (D/L)

ICC World Twenty20 record:

including a win in bowl-out vs Pakistan after the match ended in a tie  *

Form guide (most recent listed first):

South Africa: Lost, Lost, Won, Won, Lost (2 wins, 3 losses)

India:  Won, Lost, Won, Won, Lost (3 wins, 2 losses)

Squads

India: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Gautam Gambhir, R Ashwin, L Balaji, Piyush Chawla, Ashok Dinda, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Irfan Pathan, SK Raina, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh

South Africa: AB de Villiers (capt, wk), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Johan Botha, JP DUminy, Faf du Plessis, Jacques Kallis, Richard Levi, Albie Morkel, MOrne Morkel, Justin Ontong, Wayne Parnell, Robin Petersen, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe
 

Statistics by Rajneesh Gupta