India are on the verge of a rare series win
in a land where they have their worst win-
loss record. Prior to this series, they had
just won just three ODIs against South
Africa in South Africa. It was that bleak.
The start to this series hinted at more of the
same as they capitulated against bounce in
Durban. However, they bounced back in
style, with a little bit of help from South
Africa, to go 2-1 up.
The last pieces of the World Cup puzzle are
slowly falling in place too. Yusuf Pathan
sealed the No. 7 slot with a violent knock,
and Virat Kohli continues to put pressure
for a spot in the top order with impressive
performances. It's the opening position
that seems a bit wasted on players who
aren't in the World Cup squad. And
neither M Vijay nor Rohit Sharma has
seized their chances. Vijay has combusted
cheaply and Rohit has looked out of the
depth. Will India replace one of them with
Parthiv Patel in the next game? Rohit might
stay for he offers an extra option with his
offbreaks.
South Africa have lost two in a row now but
there have been a couple of positives: JP
Duminy played two responsible knocks and
is beginning to show that he can lead the
lower order through crisis situations and
Faf du Plessis showed promise. He played a
responsible and restrained knock in the
last ODI and will have two more games to
show his hitting prowess. Albie Morkel, who
was drafted in for the last two games, has
since been released from the squad,
leaving South Africa without a suitable all-
round option to replace the struggling
Wayne Parnell. They may be forced to stop
shielding legspinner Imran Tahir against
India and give him a chance to prove his
worth.
Form guide
South Africa: LLWWL
India: WWLWW
Players to watch out for… Hashim Amla has looked in great
touch, and got off to great starts but has
rarely converted them. He has paid the
price for attacking all the time. If he can
temper his approach and make more
judicious shot selections, he can really
boost this South African batting line-up.
Yuvraj Singh hit a half-century in the
second ODI and was looking fluent in the
third when he fell. There are enough
indications that Yuvraj will play at No. 4 in
the World Cup. One hour of his batting can
win games for India, while his nagging slow
bowling adds immense value in suitable
conditions.
Team news Parthiv Patel, who came in as replacement
for Sachin Tendulkar, might take M Vijay's
opening slot. The Port Elizabeth pitch aids
spin and Piyush Chawla, who is in India's
World Cup squad, might get a game.
India (possible): 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Rohit
Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5
Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7
Yusuf Pathan, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Piyush
Chawla / Ashish Nehra, 10 Munaf Patel, 11
Zaheer Khan
South Africa are likely to bring in Imran
Tahir in the place of Wayne Parnell.
South Africa (possible): 1 Graeme
Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Colin
Ingram, 4 AB de Villiers (wk), 5 JP Duminy,
6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Johan Botha, 8 Dale
Steyn, 9 Wayne Parnell / Imran Tahir, 10
Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe
Stats and trivia
At Newlands, Zaheer Khan became the
21st bowler to get 250 ODI wickets. He is the
third left-arm seamer, after Wasim Akram
and Chaminda Vaas, and the fifth Indian
to capture 250 or more. Harbhajan Singh is
currently on 246
Yusuf's 59 was the first half-century by
an Indian No. 7 batsman South Africa. The
previous best was 47, made by his brother
Irfan
Quotes "South Africa have got a bit of problem with
their selection issues. They must select seven
coloured players out of 15. Their tail will be
too long. They have a problem with the
batting down the order."
Former South Africa batsman Peter
Kirsten doesn't rate South Africa's
chances in the World Cup
No comments:
Post a Comment