India vs South Africa: Pitch report, Team news, Probable XI for Match 30

India will clash against South Africa in a Group 2 game of the Super 12 stage in the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup in Perth on Sunday.

India and South Africa (Head-to-Head Record in T20Is):

Matches: 23
India Won: 13
South Africa Won: 9
No Result: 1
India (Win %): 59.09
South Africa (Win %): 49.90

Recent Form: (Last 5 completed matches, most recent first)

India: WWLWW
South Africa: WWLLW

Players to Watch out for:

India: 

1. Virat Kohli (RHB):
   Last 5 T20I scores (Most recent first): 62 (44)*, 82 (53)*, 49 (28)*, 3 (9), 63 (48). Runs: 259, Average: 129.50, SR: 142.30.
2. Suryakumar Yadav (RHB):
   Last 5 T20I scores (Most recent first): 51 (25)*, 15 (10), 8 (6), 61 (22), 50 (33)*. Runs: 185, Average: 61.66, SR: 192.70.
3. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (RAMF):
   Last 5 T20Is (Most recent first): 2/9 (3), 1/22 (4), 1/39 (3), 0/52 (4), 5/4 (4). Wickets: 9, Average: 14.00, SR: 12.00, Economy: 7.00.

South Africa:

1. Rilee Rossouw (LHB):
   Last 5 T20I scores (Most recent first): 109 (56), 100 (48)*, 0 (2), 0 (1), 31 (18). Runs: 240, Average: 60.00, SR: 192.00
2. Quniton de Kock (LHB):
   Last 5 T20I scores (Most recent first): 63 (38), 47 (18)*, 68 (43), 69 (48)*, 1 (4). Runs: 248, Average: 82.66, SR: 164.23.
3. Anrich Nortje (RAFM):
   Last 5 T20Is (Most recent first): 4/10 (3.3), 1/10 (2), 0/41 (3), 1/32 (3), 1/12 (2). Wickets: 7, Average: 15.00, SR: 11.57, Economy: 7.89.

Stats and Trivia:

• South Africa is only the second team to score 200 so far in the tournament after New Zealand
• Virat Kohli needs 28 runs to break Mahela Jayawardene’s record for the most runs in T20 World Cups, after going past Chris Gayle in the previous match against the Netherlands.
• Virat Kohli has scored 12 fifties in T20 World Cups so far, the most by an international player after his team-mate Rohit Sharma who is at nine and Mahela Jayawardene who is at six.
• Rilee Rossouw is only the second player to score back-to-back T20I centuries, after Gustav McKeon from France, and now he could score successive tons against India too. Rossouw’s first T20I hundred came earlier this month, against India in Indore. He followed up with an emotionally-charged 109 against Bangladesh and has now scored more runs in T20I cricket in 2022 than he did in 2014, 2015 and 2016 (his previous international stint) combined.
• India and South Africa have played against each other five times in T20 World Cups, but they will meet once again in the tournament after 2014. India has won four of those matches, including the semi-final in Mirpur. South Africa’s only victory was in 2009.
• South Africa was the last team to beat India in a T20I match when they defeated them in a dead rubber in three-match series earlier this month.

Team News:

India went with an unchanged team in their previous match and they are most likely to continue with the winning combination.

India (Probable XI): 1. KL Rahul, 2. Rohit Sharma (C), 3. Virat Kohli, 4. Suryakumar Yadav, 5. Hardik Pandya, 6. Axar Patel, 7. Dinesh Karthik (WK), 8. Ravichandran Ashwin, 9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10. Mohammed Shami, 11. Arshdeep Singh.

On the other hand, South Africa can bring in a fourth fast bowler on a fast pitch in Perth and leave out one of their specialist spinners. Tabraiz Shamsi could be the one missing out as they have left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj who can keep things tight in the middle overs.

Lungi Ngidi did not play in their previous match against Bangladesh in Sydney and could return in place of Shamsi.

They are likely to give another chance to their captain Temba Bavuma who is struggling for form at the top of the order. However, time is ticking away for Bavuma as they already have an in-form player Reeza Hendricks who is waiting to replace him at the top.

South Africa (Probable XI): 1. Quinton de Kock (wk), 2. Temba Bavuma, 3. Rilee Rossouw 4. Aiden Markram, 5. David Miller, 6. Tristan Stubbs 7. Wayne Parnell/Marco Jansen, 8. Keshav Maharaj, 9. Anrich Nortje 10. Lungi Ngidi, 11. Kagiso Rabada.

Pitch and Conditions:

The pitch at Perth looks spicy with pace, bounce and early swing on offer and pace bowlers from both teams will look to bowl at hard lengths. But, that’s not the only challenge for batters. With big boundaries, scoring fours and sixes would be difficult so running between the wickets will play a crucial role. It is unlikely to be a high-scoring game as 200 scores have been reached only once at this venue when England played Australia three weeks ago. The average first-innings score in Perth is 143. There was rain around on the day before the match but things look good on the match day. Despite overcast conditions on the game day, the chances of rain are not more than 14% in the afternoon, which gets to just 4% by the time the first ball is scheduled to be bowled.

Quotes:

“The conditions are different…but we pride ourselves on being able to adapt, and that is what good international teams should be able to do anyway, so looking forward to playing in these conditions, and let’s see how the game goes,” said India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour.

“Most of our guys are also used to conditions in Australia. We come from South Africa. It’s mostly difficult batting conditions. Lots of bounce at some of the stadiums. So we are sort of used to the conditions, and as bowlers, we’ve obviously played in it as well,” said Anrich Nortje.