World Cup 2019: India to clash with South Africa on Wednesday

Virat Kohli’s India will unleash their formidable pace attack against South Africa when the title contenders open their World Cup campaign at The Rose Bowl a stadium in Southampton today.

India plans to push Proteas towards elimination in Southampton by deploying a feared bowling line-up led by Jasprit Bumrah.

Faf du Plessis’s side expects to be bolstered by the return of batting star Hashim Amla, who missed the last game after being hit on the head by a Jofra Archer bouncer against England.

Virat Kohli-led team India will finally begin their World Cup 2019 campaign when they took on a beleaguered South Africa at The Rose Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday. India is the only team left in the tournament to have not played a match yet and they will be up against a South African team struggling for form and with plenty of injury worries.

South Africa endured a terrible start to the tournament, being cleaned out by England and Bangladesh comprehensively and a loss against India could spell doom for the South African cricket team.

The present Indian squad is one of the most balanced sides in the World cup; Kohli, in his first 50-over World Cup as captain, is the key to India’s batting, with his 10,843 runs in 227 ODI matches at an average of 59.57.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan at the top are a handful for the best of bowlers. KL Rahul has all but sealed his spot in the final eleven, at No. 4 which leaves out only the right bowling combination to figure out. Seeing the recent results, Virat Kohli might have an idea of going in with all 3 seamers plus Hardik Pandya in their first match against South Africa.

Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar can be effective with the new ball, while Shami is a known wicket-taker in the middle overs.

Rabada leads South Africa’s injury-hit pace attack, with Lungi Ngidi sidelined after suffering a hamstring strain in Sunday’s defeat against Bangladesh. But Faf du Plessis’s side expects to be bolstered by the return of batting star Hashim Amla, who missed the last game after being hit on the head by a Jofra Archer bouncer against England.

Overall 83 matches were played between these two colossal sides with South Africa holding the upper hand over India. They have won it on 46 occasions, 8 more than India. There has been no result of this clash three times. The last time the two sides had met was in 2017 in South Africa when India had showcased one of their best performances overseas to trounce the Proteas 5-1.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *