Cricket
Match Preview – India vs South Africa, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 37th Match
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Big picture – the toss conundrum
South Africa love to bat first. Their top order invariably sets the platform for the middle to go big. Batting first in this World Cup, their totals have been 428, 311, 399, 382 and 357. On each occasion, they won by more than 100 runs. While chasing, though, they lost to Netherlands and narrowly escaped, with a one-wicket win, against Pakistan.
For India, it’s the opposite. They prefer having a target in front of them so that they can pace their innings accordingly. Batting first, they can appear unsure about how hard to go. So whoever wins the toss on Sunday will have to make the tricky call.
Form guide – two teams in red-hot form
India WWWWW (last five ODIs, most recent first)
South Africa WWWWL
In the spotlight – Mohammed Shami and Quinton de Kock
Team news – Shamsi might come in
India are likely to field an unchanged XI, with KL Rahul now officially the vice-captain of the team.
India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
South Africa (probable): 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Temba Bavuma (capt), 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 David Miller, 6 Heinrich Klaasen, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi/Gerald Coetzee
Pitch and conditions – will dew play a role?
The pitch at Eden Gardens hasn’t really favoured a particular type of bowling. If fast bowlers have picked up wickets at a better strike rate than the spinners, spinners have superior economy rates. On Sunday afternoon, the temperature will peak at 32°C. At night, it’s expected to drop to 23°C, which means dew could play a role in the second innings. The Air Quality Index will be around 160.
Stats and trivia – Jansen’s powerplay impact
- Virat Kohli (48) is one short of equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most ODI hundreds. If he gets there on Sunday, it will make his 35th birthday all the more special.
- Kohli is yet to get out to spin in this World Cup. In 204 balls against spinners, he has scored 184 runs.
- Among those who have bowled at least 15 overs in this World Cup, only two have economy rates under four: Jasprit Bumrah (3.72) and Ravindra Jadeja (3.78).
- Marco Jansen has picked up 12 wickets in the powerplay in this World Cup – the most by any bowler in that phase. Sri Lanka’s Dilshan Madushanka is second with seven.
- South Africa’s 82 sixes in the tournament are the most by any team in a single edition of the World Cup. England (76 in 2019) held the previous record.
- Lungi Ngidi has dismissed Shreyas Iyer four times in 30 balls in ODIs.
- Maharaj is two short of 50 ODI wickets.
Quotes
“It is a contest between two teams that are playing very good cricket. Whether they [South Africa] are the toughest or not, I think there are three or four other good teams in this tournament as well. Maybe some of them haven’t clicked as well as they would have liked to, or they have had a tough run. But South Africa certainly have been playing very well.”
India head coach Rahul Dravid
“You got two teams who are in form, coming up against each other and I think it’s just a matter of who breaks first and who’s able to I guess, exploit that moment or that weakness. We understand that there will be pressure moments within the World Cup, moments that we’ve overcome to get to this point, and there will still be more. We’ll deal with them as best as we can.”
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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