India vs South Africa T20 World Cup final likely lineups, pitch report
The Kensington Oval in Barbados will host the high-voltage match on Saturday
India and South Africa are set to lock horns in the T20 World Cup 2024 final which is to be played at the Kensington Oval, Barbados, on Saturday.
This will be India’s first final since the T20 World Cup final in 2014 where they lost to Sri Lankain Dhaka. Having won their last ICC trophy in 2013, there will be immense pressure on Rohit Sharma and his men to end the drought.
India came close to lifting the World Test Championship in 2021 and 2023 but they tasted defeats at the hands of New Zealand and Australia respectively. However, their best chance to win a trophy was the ODI World Cup 2023, where the Blues remained unbeaten throughout the tournament but lost to Pat Cummins’ side in the final in Ahmedabad.
On the other hand, South Africa have been regarded as the “chokers” in the world of cricket due to their inability to handle pressure and losing matches at crucial stages. They reached the semi-finals in the 2009 and 2014 T20 World Cups but lost to Pakistan and India respectively.
This will be the Proteas’ first-ever appearance in an ICC World Cup final, and the pressure would be great on Aiden Markram to make history and become the first-ever South African captain to lift a trophy.
As we get closer to the match, it is time to have a look at what could be the likely playing XIs. Both sides will most likely go with the same lineups from their semi-final lineups.
Predicted Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (WK), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (C), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi
Pitch report
The pitch at the Kensington Oval stadium is known to provide early movements and extra bounce in the early bowlers to the side bowling first. The movement could make it difficult for the batters to play in the initial overs which is why opting to bowl first after winning the toss would be crucial.
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