Sat, 12 Mar 2011 - India vs South Africa, World Cup 2011, 29th match Group B - Preview

This doesn’t get better than this. Two of the hot favorites to lift the cup will battle it out in group B match which many believe is rehearsal for the tournament final. India and South Africa are the strong contenders to win the tournament that makes Saturday’s encounter at Nagpur a classic one.

Both teams will be keen not to concede an inch and make sure psychological battles are won in this game. India go into this game on the back of workman like win over Dutch, thus, keeping their sheet clean of losses in the tournament so far.

After two impressive performances against West Indies and Netherlands, South Africa had an upper hand in major part of the game against England but crumbled to six run defeat in the end. The defeat raised eyebrows from many quarters that South Africa is still susceptible to choking in close fought games and it might come to haunt the team in crucial games.

Team management has a job on hands to prevent that feeling from creeping into the minds of the players and would want the side to win this high profile game to assuage those fears.

Home side India are yet to lose the game and have surpassed Irish and Dutch challenges after sharing a point each with England. They would like to continue their winning momentum by overpowering mighty South Africa to strengthen their claim as hot favorites for the cup. And, they will have jam-packed Nagpur stadium cheering for them.

Saturday, however, will be a real test for the Indian team as most of their matches have against relatively weaker teams so far in the tournament.

Looking at composition and the way two teams play their cricket, a ripper of an encounter is on cards that should infuse excitement in the tournament.

Clear skies have been predicted at Nagpur and temperature is expected to in early 30’s (Degree Celsius).

India

India may have been undefeated in the tournament so far but that by no standards mean all the bases are covered for the team.

Batting, as always, is India’s strength with most of the batsmen looking in good form. They would, however, would like to make a statement by scoring runs against one of the best bowling units in the tournament that South Africa possesses.

There has been lot of debate over the selection of second spinner with most of the cricket pundits in India wanting R Ashwin to be drafted in the playing eleven in place of struggling Piyush Chawla. But skipper MS Dhoni keeps ignoring the suggestions and has preferred Chawla over Ashwin so far and all eyes will be on Dhoni whether he changes his plans and plays Ashwin.

Bowling hasn’t looked menacing and wickets continue to elude ace spinner Harbhajan and South Africa is right stage for him to bounce back.

Fielding can be a difference between the two sides with India not looking sharp in the field conceding some important runs.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt./wk), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin, Ashish Nehra.

Coach: Gary Kirsten

South Africa

There is no doubt about the abilities of this side but team seems to lack that killer instinct to go the distance. They started off pretty nicely with two wins but batting line up crumbled while chasing a small target that certainly would have dented their confidence.

Bowling unit has looked venomous with variety in pace and slow bowlers. But thumb injury to their best bowler leg spinner Imran Tahir isn’t good news though. He has been advised ten days of rest but team management is keen to play him against India.

It will be a fierce duel between fabulous Indian batting line up and Dale Steyn arguably the best fast bowler in the world.

Batting hasn’t performed up to the potential so far. Openers have got starts but haven’t big runs to show with Graeme Smith yet to find his fluency.

Biggest worry is lack of form of Jacques Kallis who is searching for the rhythm ever since he is back from injury.

Fragility of lower middle order hasn’t doesn’t any good to the side and someone needs to put his hand up to do the finishers job.

Squad: Graeme Smith (c), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (wk), Jean-Paul Dumminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk (wk)

Coach: Corne Van Zyll