India, which has not won a World Cup for 13 years, will play first-time finalist South Africa in Barbados on Saturday.
Ahead of a high-octane match between the two unbeaten sides in the tournament, here’s a look at the key matchups.
Win toss, bowl ?
Rohit Sharma has won the toss thrice and elected to field twice. | Photo Credit: DEEPAK KR/The Hindu
Both South Africa and India boast excellent bowling attacks, making it likely they will choose to bowl second in the final to leverage scoreboard pressure against their opponent. Since it’s a day game, dew won’t be a factor.
In this tournament, India has batted first in five of its seven matches, including Thursday’s semifinal in Guyana, where it scored 171 against England on a pitch that slowed down as the game progressed. On four of these occasions, India was inserted.
South Africa, on the other hand, has batted first four times and chased four times. They have won the toss three times, choosing to bowl twice.
At the Kensington Oval, there have been four day matches so far, with teams winning the toss opting to bowl first twice.
Suryakumar Yadav vs slower balls
India’s Suryakumar Yadav in action during the T20 World Cup 2024. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
In the 2023 World Cup final, Australia had restricted Suryakumar by bowling the slower bouncer with deep third and fine leg in place. SKY loves using pace of the bowlers to direct the ball in the region behind square on both sides of the wicket. Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen will be mindful of this tactic.
In all T20s since 2023, SKY’s strike rate against slower balls is upwards of 180 but his average is a paltry 20.
If it’s a slower surface, SKY could consider ditching his premeditation and delaying his shots before whacking the ball in the arc between deep midwicket and wide long-on or targeting the cover region with his inside shot.
Rohit Sharma vs Marco Jansen
Rohit Sharma is currently the third-highest run-scorer in this T20 World Cup, amassing 248 runs at an average of 41.33 and a strike rate of 155.97. While he has been dismissed four times by left-arm quicks in this edition, he is also scoring at a strike rate of over 160 against them, with an average just under 25.
Rohit is committed to an aggressive approach from the first ball, so expect fireworks and an opportunity for Jansen to make an early breakthrough in equal measure.
Klaasen, Miller vs India’s spin troika
Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller’s biggest test will be facing Indian spinners. | Photo Credit: Sportstar
Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller are South Africa’s best players of spin bowling. Their duel with the two left-arm fingerspinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel and left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav will be important. Klaasen’s ability to hang back in the crease and use his backlift to launch big hits. In T20s since 2023, Jadeja has kept Klaasen quiet but the sample size is too small to say anything definitive: he has bowled 15 balls, including five dots and conceded just one six. Meanwhile, Kuldeep has had the wood over Miller in T20s since 2022, removing him twice while conceding just run-a-ball (24 off 24).
Axar is coming off a match-winning haul of 3 for 23 against England in the semifinal and will be high on confidence.
Maharaj in PowerPlay, Shamsi to miss out?
South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj in action. | Photo Credit: AFP
Keshav Maharaj has been South Africa’s first-choice spinner in this World Cup. His immaculate control of length and use of the crosswind to drift the ball in the air has resulted in nine wickets at about six runs per over and all nine have been right-handers. Aiden Markram might just think of using Maharaj as a tactical option against Rohit in the PowerPlay.
Given Barbados has produced pacer-friendly wickets in this World Cup and the majority of Indian batters are comfortable playing spin, South Africa could swap Tabraiz Shamsi for Ottneil Baartman, whose change of pace could come in handy against an Indian top order that likes pace on.
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