Will Champs India Break The Jinx Against Flu Affected South Africa?

Will champs India break the jinx against Flu affected South Africa?

Their confidence buoyed by the victory against arch-rivals Pakistan, defending champions India take on South Africa in a battle of heavyweights in a Pool B match

India, having registered their first victory on the tour of Australia and that too against the bitter-time rivals Pakistan, gear up for another big match against the South African giants. India will go into the match with a poor head-to-head record having lost all the three world cup matches played against their opponents.

India V/s RSA : Top of the Table Clash

World No. 2 v/s World No. 3

India at rank 2 is higher in rank than the South Africans who are a rung below to be placed as the 3rd ranked team in the world. Considering the ranking, the match can be predicted to be a neck-to-neck one. It’s pretty hard to predict a winner for this match.

Let’s have a comparison between the two cricket powerhouses ahead of this mouth-watering clash.

Batting Comparison: India better finishers

Both India and South Africa boast of the best batting lineups in any team at present. It’s hard to separate the two teams on basis of their batting lineup.

India have a formidable opening partnership in the form of the ever improving and classy Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan who stroked himself back to form with 70 odd runs against Pakistan. The African openers are in no way behind their Indian counterparts in terms of talent and form with the young Quinton-de-Kock and the run-machine Hashim Amla holding the spot.

There is nothing to separate between the two sides even in the middle order. If India have the services of the batting sensations Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane to construct the innings, the Africans have the services of Faf-du-Plessis and Mr 360 AB Devillers, who recently created a world record for the fastest international century.

India, though, edge out South Africa in terms of finishers in the batting department. India have the services of Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and the cool head of MS Dhoni, widely regarded as the best finisher ever in ODI cricket. This trio outclasses the finishers from the South African giants as JP Duminy, David Miller have yet not raised their bar enough to be consistent enough performers.

Bowling comparison: South Africa hold the aces

When it comes to the bowling department, South Africa are far ahead of their Indian counterparts though they have been weakened to an extent with the doubt surrounding the availability of their spearhead Dale Steyn, who is down with flu. Even without Dale Steyn, they have a fearsome attack with Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Imran Tahir having the abilitu and the guile to destroy even the best batting lineups.

Indians will be buoyed by the availability of the pace bowling spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar-who is back from injury-  and Ravichandran Ashwin who had a doubt surrounding him after being struck by an Umesh Yadav delivery in the nets. The way Mohammad Shami was steaming in to bowl against the Pakistan and the accuracy of Mohit Sharma (though he is expected to make way for Bhuvneshwar Kumar), India’s bowling issues also look more or less sorted out.

Win the Battle of Nerves, Win the Match

With hardly anything to pick between the two teams, the team which wins the toss will be expected to bat first and put scoreboard pressure on the other team by a score in excess of 300.

Also Read: India’s Squad for ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

All in all, the stage is set for a cracker of a contest. So, get set to witness in what could be the ‘Greatest Tussle of the Group Stage’ of World Cup 2015.

Match Details :

India vs South Africa
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 , Game 13
Date : 22nd Feb, 2015 (Tomorrow)
Time: 9:00 am on starsports
Place: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Also, an Advertisement is made in India, “Will Crackers Burn This Year or Not”, “Mauka Mauka”. You can watch the Video of Mauka Mauka on YouTube. “Reply To India Vs South Africa StarSports Ad – Mauka Mauka”

Article by: Suhail (AISSMS)

Leave a Reply

CommentLuv badge