The 18th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will pit two cricketing titans from Group 1 against one other, South Africa and the West Indies. Both teams are looking to add a win to their resumes after losing their first match. West Indies, the defending champions, will be hoping to put their humiliating setback against England behind them, while South Africa will be hoping for better performances from their batsmen.
South Africa will use spin to target the West Indies, given spin caused them so much trouble against England. This will no doubt influence their strategy. Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid took 6/19 in 6.2 overs, generally when their victims were seeking to attack wildly. Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj are easily as good, if not better than English spinners.
South Africa’s bowlers will be confident of improving on their strong showing on Saturday, which was aided by their fielders. While the West Indian bowlers and fielders didn’t get a fair chance to prove themselves because they were only handed 55 runs to defend.
What to expect
West Indies
It’s no secret that Chris Gayle is capable of unleashing devastation. It’s also evident that, at 42, he’s in decline: in his previous 27 T20I innings, he’s only produced one half-century, and it’s been more than five years since he scored his second of two centuries at this level. The good news for the West Indians is that he is more effective against South Africa’s bowlers than against any other country’s bowlers, with a strike rate of 177.94 in T20Is against them, which is greater than any other country’s bowlers.
South Africa
South Africa will be hoping for more excellent bowling performances as they did in the first match, but they will need some help from the hitters if they are to win. Quinton De Kock, the wicketkeeper-batsman, would be expected to perform well. However, after scoring three half-centuries in four innings for South Africa and the Mumbai Indians in September (two of them unbeaten), he has failed to top 30 in his previous six T20 innings. On Tuesday, his squad will be counting on him to deliver.
What happened the last time they met
The most recent of these gatherings was documented in the 2016 edition. On a slick Nagpur track, the West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl first. Quinton de Kock held one end, but he couldn’t muster much support. South Africa finished with a score of 122/8, thanks to their lower-middle order and some quick runs from David Wiese and Chris Morris.
Despite the fact that the target appeared to be subpar, West Indies’ pursuit was far from smooth. West Indies, like the Proteas, lost wickets at regular intervals. West Indies won the game by three wickets with a handful of deliveries to spare thanks to key contributions from Marlon Samuels and Johnson Charles.
Predicted playing XI
South Africa:Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi
West Indies: Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Roston Chase, Dwayne Bravo, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Kieron Pollard (c), Andre Russell, Akeal Hosein, Obed McCoy, Ravi Rampaul