India face South Africa at the Kensington Oval, London in a clash to decide the semi-finalists of the Champions Trophy.
Men in blue will be hoping to get over their unexpected loss against neighbouring island Sri Lanka in previous match when they face mighty South Africa in a do-or-die match at Kennington Oval, London on June, 11. Both the teams are eying to give their best performance in the match as winning team will get semi-final berth in the Champions Trophy.
India has won in all three occasions when they played against South Africa in Champions Trophy. Before the start of Champions Trophy, these two teams India and South Africa were predicted as strong contenders to lift the trophyby cricket pundits across the world. India and South Africa are coming into this game with shocking defeat in their last fixture against Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively. Indian team lost to Sri Lanka by 7 wickets while South African men fell short by 19 runs in a rain curtailed match against Pakistan.
Indian team, despite a loss to Sri Lanka looks in good touch with bat; as Indian top order has performed consistently in their previous two group matches. Bowling and fielding are the two departments where Kohli and his men need to work more ahead of the big match. The opening duo Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan added century partnerships in both the games; where middle order comprising Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya has also contributed when the chances are given. Bowling will be the area of concern for Kohli as his four specialist bowlers and one all-rounder strategy failed against Sri Lankans. Kohli himself and Kedar Jadhav had to bowl few overs to complete the 10 overs bowling quota of Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja who leaked runs in middle overs.
On the other hand, Captain AB de Villiersa poor form in this Champions Trophy is the biggest concern in front of South African team management. De Villiers has only managed to score 4 runs in two matches including golden duck against Pakistan in previous match. Apart from this South African batting and bowling looks stable with consistent valuable inputs; from Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir and Morne Morkel.
Team News:
India: In previous match, Indian bowlers failed to defend the target of 322 against an inexperienced Sri Lankan batting line-up; which might force Virat Kohli and team management to make few changes in the playing XI against Proteas. With three left handers in South African top order including Quinton de Kock, David Miller and JP Duminy; inclusion of Indian ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in playing XI looks possible.
Probable XI:ARohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk); Kedar Jadhav / Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Buvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami.
South Africa:
South Africa is unlikely to change playing XI from the last match. AB de Villiers has declared himself fit ahead of the match.
Probable XI:AHashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers (c), David Miller; JP Duminy, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.
Quotes:
“Look, I’m still in good form. Still hitting the ball well, as always. It’s just a matter of going out and doing it. There’s nothing I can say here that’s going to change anything except for that I still believe I can and hopefully I’ll prove that tomorrow. It is a must-win game, but we’ve played quite a few of them in the last 12 to 18 months; and we’ve had a lot of success in those must-win games. The guys generally perform better if they are relaxed in their mind sets and not too tense. That’s partly my responsibility to make sure there’s no panic.a? AB de Villiers, South Africa skipper.
a?As a cricketer honestly for me personally, I crave games like this. The team that can have the most composure; I would say, will have a better chance of winning of the game tomorrow.a? Virat Kohli, India skipper
a?Iam sure India will change their side; I think they will bring Ashwin in to create some variation; especially after the way we played against the (Pakistan) spinners. It would make sense for them to get more spin options in.a? Shaun Pollock, Former South Africa skipper
