Stuttering South Africa face unbeaten India

Proteas to rely primarily on their fiery pacers in semi-final.

India, who remain unbeaten in this year’s World Twenty20 tournament, are set to face a dysfunctional South Africa in the second semi-final in Dhaka on April 4.

India, holders of the World Cup and Champions Trophy, will try to smother the South African pace attack with a twist of spin bowling as they vie to complete their set by winning this year’s World Twenty20 title.

On the other hand, South Africa have not really lived up to their ‘chokers’ taboo. They have had a pretty scrambled form throughout the tournament and are being labelled as ‘unpredictable’, similar to Asian teams such as Pakistan.

Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s premier spin bowler in the tournament said that South Africa’s poor form in the tournament will not let his side prepare any less when they face the Proteas.

“We are not looking at things like what happened in the past,” said Ashwin. “If they want to do it [make unpredictable changes], it’s their problem.”

Meanwhile, India has tamed every side they have faced in the tournament so far, keeping a check on their playing styles. They beat Pakistan with discipline in the opening match while restricting West Indies from hitting big. Later, they defeated hosts Bangladesh who seemed completely out of form throughout the tournament, and lastly a win over a demoralised Australia was the cherry on top as the Kangaroos were already pushed out of the tournament.

Earlier, Faf du Plessis pointed out that India will have an advantage while playing in Dhaka as they have played all their matches at the same venue.

“Obviously, the wicket in Dhaka is completely different to Chittagong,” said Du Plessis. “We played all our games there, and India has played all their games here. Definitely from a conditions point of view, they are more used to it than we are.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2014.

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