As always, South Africa, one among the favorites, has an enviable side with (at least) two of the world's best batsmen playing at the top of their game. The bowling line-up led by Dale Steyn, ably supported by Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander is nothing short of phenomenal in terms of quality and adaptability.
India, on the other hand, despite winning by a comfortable margin against arch rivals Pakistan, have quite a lot of vulnerable areas. The bowling line-up can get very erratic at times and the batting has not quite lived up to the reputation with the captain himself and his deputy struggling for runs entering into the competition.
Yes, Virat Kohli did score his 22nd ODI hundred last Sunday on his happy hunting place - the Adelaide Oval. However, it wasn't a dominating one as Kohli would've wanted it to be.
With a lot of Indian population tipping South Africa to win this battle, despite having their hearts with their motherland, India could really end up defeating all odds and beat the Protean side.
The window of opening
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| Imran Tahir should not be much of a threat to India |
It is true that AB de Villiers has three world class seamers at his disposal and an effective leg-spinner in Imran Tahir. The new ball pair could easily tilt the game in their favor and our batsmen need to spend some time in the middle. Once we get through the powerplay overs, as the game moves on to the middle phase, there is a small window of opportunity, namely the fifth bowler.
Yes, the African side is backing JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien to fill in for the fifth bowler's quota and this is possibly the weakest of all links in this strong Protean chain.
Tahir, as one would agree is not world class and can be dominated by players like Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. I'm very aware that de Villiers will tend to bowl a pacer from one end and use his spinners/part-timers from the other. Going by that, if any one of the openers or Virat Kohli bat through the innings, they should be finding it less difficult to negotiate the threat particularly with Steyn unlikely to bowl more than three between overs 10-40.
If I'm not wrong, all Indian batsman can hopefully be able to dominate the leg-spinner, especially Suresh Raina. Also, the fact that Dale Steyn has had a quite a few bad outings against Indian batsman, albeit, in a different format and conditions, should be encouraging for the Asian unit.
Shortly put, if Kohli can win the battle against Steyn; in all likelihood it gives a free license to Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. Yet, there is a big question on whether the two will be able to seize the opportunity and handle the extra bounce of Morkel and reverse swing of Philander. Pray, that's all we can do.
Ashwin holds the key
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| Ravichandran Ashwin's 10 overs will be crucial |
Don't expect the bowlers to win you the match. That is as simple as that. However, if and then Mohit Sharma can draw some false strokes or Umesh Yadav catches either one or both Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers on the back foot, it opens up the situation for the off-spinner.
If I were Dhoni, I would even toss the new ball to Ravichandran Ashwin simply to see how the left-hander in Quinton de Dock goes about the business. Ashwin's non-spinners and occasional leg-breaks could also be a successful ploy against Amla in powerplay overs. Agreed, it is risky, but it is one risk worth taking. India cannot afford the openers to settle down and need to revert to unorthodox ways.
Also, given the fact that both David Miller and Duminy are southpaws, Ashwin's role becomes very crucial as Ravindra Jadeja can be an easy prey. India needs their spinners to be amongst the wickets to win matches and perhaps Ashwin might end up doing that.
All said and done, Virat Kohli v Dale Steyn will be decisive.
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