South Africa will face Pakistan in match 36 of the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup 2022 in Sydney on Thursday. South Africa will enter the contest as firm favorites, especially after getting the better of an in-form India team in their previous outing.
Pakistan will be entering the contest as an underdog after managing to win just one out of the three games, which included a defeat against Zimbabwe. That result has put things out of Pakistan’s control in their quest to play in the semi-finals as now they are dependent on other results to keep their last-four hopes alive.
The form of captain Babar Azam is another cause of concern for the management as the right-hander has not even scored in double figures in the competition despite playing three innings. The management will be hoping to see the players including the skipper to produce their A-game when they will face opposition like South Africa on Thursday.
In the batting department, the onus will be on the likes of captain Babar, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood, Fakhar Zaman and Iftikhar Ahmed to score the bulk of the runs and give the bowling something substantial to defend.
In the bowling department, the onus will be on the likes of pacers Haris Rauf, Naseem Shan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jnr along with the spin duo of Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz to produce timely breakthroughs and restrict the opposition.
On the other hand, Proteas’ coaching staff will be hoping to see the players continue producing similar kinds of performances in the matches to come. One thing which remains a cause of concern for everyone involved will be the form of Captain Temba Bavuma who has only managed to score 14 runs in three innings in the mega-event.
In the batting department, the onus will be on the likes of in-form players like wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock, top-order batter Rilee Rossouw, veteran David Miller, exciting Tristan Stubbs and explosive Aiden Markram to score the bulk of the runs and give the bowlers something to bowl with.
On the bowling front, the onus will be on the quartet of fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada, Wayne Parnell, Anrich Nortje, and Lungi Ngidi along with the spin duo of Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi to restrict the opposition by claiming timely breakthroughs.
What have they done so far?
Having started the tournament with two consecutive losses, Pakistan finally managed to salvage a win when they beat the Netherlands by six wickets at the T20 World Cup, Super 12 encounter in Perth on Sunday. Pakistan completed the 92-run chase in 13.5 overs and remained alive in the semi-final race. The win also added a massive boost to their run rate.
South Africa meanwhile is the only team from Group 2 yet to lose a game in this tournament. Having started the tournament sharing points with Zimbabwe after rain abandoned that game, they came back strongly to crush Bangladesh in their next match.
In their most recent game against India, David Miller finished unbeaten on 59 off 46 as he saw the Proteas over the line in their chase of a target of 134. Lungi Ngidi’s searing four-wicket haul and the efforts of the rest of the South African pacers meant that India was off to a disastrous start batting first. However, Suryakumar Yadav’s 68 off 40 balls almost single-handedly got India to 133/9.
Head to Head Record
Both teams have faced off 21 times in the history of the format where the Men-in-Green have a slight edge with 11 wins compared to the Proteas’ 10 victories. Pakistan’s record is even more superior when these two teams faced off in the ICC T20 World Cup where they won in all three meetings.
The two sides will be coming head to head after over a year when they last played each other in Centurion in April 2021. The Men in Green won that game by three wickets.
Key Players
Rilee Rossouw (South Africa): Rilee Rossouw has been in reliable form in 2022 after having scored two tons from his last three innings in the format. His aggressive batting is the biggest plus point for South Africa and on true batting surfaces, the left-hander can more often than not be relied on to make it count. His recent performances has made South Africa not miss injured Rassie van der Dussen in the middle-order.
Babar Azam (Pakistan): The tournament’s leading run scorer a year ago, Babar Azam has yet to get going in Australia. With scores of 0, 4 and 4 in the opening three matches, the Pakistan captain needs a score to his name. Hungry for runs, the Proteas attack will have to be wary of the Pakistan opener.
Predicted XIs
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (WK), Temba Bavuma (C), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anrich Nortje
Pakistan: Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Fakhar Zaman, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shaheen Afridi
Prediction
Both teams will enter the contest with contrasting morale. History suggests that Pakistan have an edge, especially because they’ve never lost to South Africa in the T20 World Cup but recent form suggest that Proteas will be too hot to handle.
On paper, there is no reason to suggest that the Bavuma-led unit will falter against this Pakistan team where there is a clear lack of confidence at the moment. Expect South Africa to eke out a close win over Pakistan at the SCG.