Will It Be South Africa’s Comeback Or India’s Flying Start?

By Thanmay Manohar

India will be taking on a wounded South Africa in their first match. On the one side, South Africa would be looking to open their account and end their losing streak. India, on the other hand, would want to kick-start their campaign on a winning note. South Africa is gripped by the fear of injuries in its squad like Hashim Amla, Lungi Ngidi and Dale Steyn who have been ruled out of the world cup. India would be quite happy as Kedar Jadhav and Vijay Shankar have almost recovered.

India had a million dollar question to answer today—whether to pick Bhuvi or Shami as the second seamer and they finally seem to have gone in for the former. Virat kohli will be looking forward to captaining his first world cup match. KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav,Vijay Shankar, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzi would be wanting to play their first world cup match. The Proteas would want their top batsmen in good nick and come good today against the Men in Blue. A bigger concern for them is the bowling as they don't have experienced bowlers on their side. Steyn and Ngidi are nursing injuries and they have to rely mainly on Rabada for pace. Imran Tahir is a match-winner on his day and is South Africa’s trump card. JP Duminy can also give the ball a little tweak.

India would want their openers to give a positive start to the innings. KL Rahul has done an excellent job at No. 4 and might continue in the same slot. Mr. consistent Faf du Plessis is back in form. South Africa has a great batting line-up, as do most sides on paper. As this article was being posted two of its top order batsmen, openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock were back in the hut, thanks to Bumrah. David Miller is fine fettle and could be a worrying factor for India. Looking at the teams, both have a good batting line-up and a not so good bowling line-up. So there is a battle royale which is on right now, in a cracker of an encounter. So, will it be South Africa's comeback or India’s flying start?

If one were to consider the head to head record, South Africans have an edge over India in the World Cup as well as in overall records. Team India and the Indian fans would want them to turn the tables. But it is not going to be easy as South Africa would want to chip in. So who is it going to be? We will soon find out.

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