India can put one foot in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022 if they win their next game at the Perth Stadium on Sunday. However, their opponents are a strong South African team who, like India, are yet to lose in this tournament. While India have won both the matches they have played so far, South Africa won one and came close to winning the other too, had rain not forced the match to be abandoned.
India’s two wins so far have left former captain Virat Kohli unbeaten, scoring half-centuries. Former New Zealand fast bowler and commentator Danny Morrison believes South Africa’s stellar pace attack could be a real test for the Indian batsmen.
“Rohit (Sharma), KL (Rahul) is yet to start, Suryakumar Yadav and of course Virat Kohli. You put them against (Kagiso) Rabada, (Henrich) Northje, (Wayne) Parnell coming back a bit, (Keshav) Maharaj, (Tabraiz) Shamsi; South Africa have a good bowling line-up against India. It’s hard to choose. Considering what happened recently, India nodded. But this man, the South African side, watch out,” Morrison said in a video on the tournament’s website.
“Nortier, Rabada has pace. Parnell brings diversity. Then you bring out the swing kings – Bhuvi and Shami. I like it, but I am amazed at the bullying of South Africans. If they get it right, I will go a little bit on their bowling against India,” he said.
South Africa also have a strong batting side, the only team to score more than 200 runs in a match in the Super 12 stage. They scored 205/5 in their last match against Bangladesh and won the game by 104 runs. Earlier, they had restricted Zimbabwe to 79/5 in nine innings of a rain-affected match. They won by 51/0 in three overs before rain forced the match to be abandoned.