India play South Africa in virtual quarter-final
Virat Kohli’s men will be low on confidence after their shocking loss to Sri Lanka. But we all know that South Africa have a “chokers” tag in big games. So we are in for an exciting encounter.
India will need to play Ashwin with the presence of three quality left-handers in Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy & David Miller being in the South African squad.
What an irony would it be if the holders of the champions trophy were to be knocked out before the Semi’s. The same goes for the no.1 ranked ODI team in the world in South Africa. However their could only be one winner.
Jadeja should also remain in the team as two quality spinners will be a bonus. It’s not hidden either that South African’s struggle against slow bowlers.
Hardik Pandya can’t be afforded to be dropped either as he is a brilliant all-rounder. Bumrah on the other hand is exceptional at the death, so he will be needed too. So, either of Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Umesh Yadav needs to make way for Ashwin.
While India have scored 319 & 321 in the two games that they have played, they will know that 350 or plus is needed in the modern era to stop teams to a certain extent.
“May be you think of phases where we could have accelerated (against SL), but I don’t see that as a major issue. Maybe we will have to push harder now in the next few games to give us a 20-run cushion after seeing a result like this, because we are playing on the same ground as well,” Kohli had said.
On the other hand, South African batting coach Neil McKenzie also agreed that fluency has been an issue for openers of all the teams.
“It’s been a little bit of tough going for the openers. The fluency has been an issue. But one needs to adapt according to situations as the conditions here demand little bit of caution. The wickets need to be kept so that one can attack in the back end,” McKenzie said.
In the IPL, Rohit had some trouble reading Tahir’s wrong’un. So Imran Tahir, whose stock ball is googly, might just test Rohit.
South Africa have bowlers like Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, who might just trouble the Indian top order.
All in all their should be some quality action between the two sides.
Squads
India: Kohli(C), Dhawan, Rohit, Yuvraj, Dhoni(WK), Hardik, Jadhav, Ashwin, Jadeja, Umesh, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, Shami, Karthik, Rahane.
South Africa: De Villiers(C), Amla, De Kock(WK), Miller, Duminy, Du Plessis, Tahir, Maharaj, Behardien, Morris, Parnell, Phehlukwayo, Pretorius, Rabada.
