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Match 8 of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup features South Africa taking on India on June 5, 2019, at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton.
India will be the last team to begin the Cricket World Cup campaign while South Africa will already have completed two games when they heat to this matchup. The Proteas will take on hosts England during the opener on May 30th at The Oval in London. Then on June 2nd, South Africa will take on Sri Bangladesh in Match 5 of the tournament, also at The Oval.
Let’s take a look at the two squads and preview their matchup:
South Africa (35-18-2 World Cup record)
South Africa arrive in England in good form as they have won six out of their last seven ODI series played. With a seam-dominant attack led by Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi plus the spin support provided by veteran Imran Tahir, the South Africans should play well under British conditions.
South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Rassie van der Dussen.
India (46-27-1-1 World Cup Record)
Sharma, Dhawan, and Kohli are an incomparable trio with 42 ODI hundreds between them since the last installment of the ICC World Cup. India also has the top-ranked ODI bowler in Jasprit Bumrah. Left arm-wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav displayed excellent form at Trent Bridge last summer and spinning could be the key for India in this game and tournament as a whole. Chahal’s leggies and Jadeja’s left arm darts make sure that India has covered every base.
India squad Virat Kohli (c), Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav.
Who Wins?
The odds for this June 5th encounter aren’t out yet but given the talent on their team and the fact that they handed South Africa a landslide 5-1 series loss in their last encounter, India should be the betting favorite here as they are also one of the top cricket betting favorites to win it all. But remember that the Proteas were missing several key players during that loss.
South Africa has won 13 out of its last 16 ODIs and as we said earlier, they head to the World Cup in good form and they couldn’t have planned it any better. Key Players Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, and Kagiso Rabada, all in the Top 5 in the world in each of their respective disciplines, have led the Proteas in this winning run.
Believe the hype in Rabada as the 23-year old is as good as everyone says he is. But he is coming off a back strain which threatens to slow down the Proteas fast bowling game. Quinton de Kock has an excellent bat by the little destroyer doesn’t have enough consistency to lead the team.
Veterans like Dale Steyn, Hashim Amla, and JP Duminy and Aiden Markram may be over the hill, but they can still contribute and make this South African unit a fearsome side in the World Cup. Hamla’s poor form as of late made him reportedly questionable to make the team but he is the fastest to 7,000 ODI runs and has an excellent ODI record of 57 in England.
It’s hard to argue that India doesn’t have the most talented list in the competition. Kholi alone is the best ODI batsman in the world and he is probably the best batsman of all-time. Kholi and Rohit Sharma are the #1 and #2 batsman in the world while Bumrah is the leader in the bowling charts. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chalal are the #2 and #3 ranked spinners in the tournament.
No player has scored over 7,000 ODI runs and average more than 54 but the Indian captain is averaging 59.57 and already has 41 centuries in 210 innings. The scarier thing for India’s opponents is that Kholi has averaged 85.36 in the format since 2016 and he has scored 600 more runs than anybody during that period.
There may be one weakness for India and that is in the lower order of batting as MS Dhoni is no longer the excellent finisher he used to be and he now chews through key deliveries and ends up failing to do the job. But with the top player in the world on their side and a large diaspora crowds that turn up to see India play in England, I think India wins this match. Prediction: India
