 In
the fifth game of the ICC World T20, India will play South Africa
at Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia. This is South Africa's first game,
whereas India will be playing their second and last Group stage game in the tournament.
A lot of it depends on the Indian result in the first game against Afghanistan,
which means that if India win the first game, then a win here qualifies them through
to the next round, but even a loss would not cause any issues. If, on the other
hand, the Indians are stunned by the opposition in the first game, then it could
get a little more interesting and a loss would end their campaign.
Click for Live Score Card of India vs South Africa
The Indian batting is slightly depleted, with the absence of Virender Sehwag,
but then again, he is replaced by Murali Vijay, who has been in the form of
his life in this format of the game. With Gautam Gambhir needing to come good
for sure, it remains to be seen whether the side will want to get in Dinesh
Karthik or allow Vijay to continue playing the way he has been in the IPL.
From the bowling perspective, the attack will give an insight to what the captains
think about the pitches. There can hardly be any doubt that India will prefer
to go ahead with two main spinners at least; Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra
Jadeja. But given the way it had petered out in the IPL, they may not think
twice before they opened the bowling with a spinner as well, and that will mean
that the side will need use the services of Yusuf Pathan too. With Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina existing in the line up, the team is replete of spinners,
and that will allow Dhoni to go in with an extra batsman.
South Africa have been largely low key in the leadup to the tournament so far,
and much of it has to do with the fact that the side's captain was still recovering
from his finger injury. Graeme Smith should be fit to play and captain the side,
but one is not sure about what he thinks will be the ideal playing eleven.
The pitch could demand the line-up he goes ahead with, and it will be interesting
to see if he decides to play two spinners; Johan Botha and Roelof van
der Merwe.
To me, it looks like it will be a very even battle and if the side batting
first can get to a total of around 160, it will be very defendable.
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