South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada, second from right, celebrates with teammate Marc Jansen (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) TimesofIndia.com in New Delhi: South Africa are the team to beat in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Apart from a nervy and unexpected double Super Over against Afghanistan, they put their experience to the test with a win against title favorites and defending champions India. As a result, they have won six games and are the only unbeaten team in the competition. Next up for them are already eliminated Zimbabwe in the All-Africa competition at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.With the semi-final against New Zealand looming, it would be the worst time to take your foot off the pedal. What is most impressive for the Proteas is the fact that there is no individual behind the wheel to keep this behemoth defense at full strength. Aiden Markram, Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs batted and Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch did the work with the ball.
T20 World Cup: Ashwell Prince press conference ahead of SA vs ZIM
“From our point of view, we’ve been really sharp and we want to make sure we maintain that discipline and intensity and we don’t fall down when it comes to those things,” South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince said on the eve of the dead rubber.Six wins in a row and two recent ones came in convincing fashion, against India and West Indies by 76 runs and 9 wickets. South Africa have form and momentum on their side as they enter the knockout stages. Their semi-final opponents New Zealand lost in comparison as Pakistan failed to restrict Sri Lanka in their Super Eight clash. So is there such a thing as “ideal leadership”?“Obviously winning creates good momentum. However you win, sometimes you can have convincing wins. Other times you can have tight games that really pull the group together, so however you are able to get over the line, I don’t think there is an ideal way. If you look at England’s last game (against New Zealand), you win the way England did (by 4 wickets and 3 goals and 3 balls to give them eight balls to spare) also gives their batting line-up a lot of confidence knowing these guys can come to the party and get the team over the line,” explained Prince.“I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to do it, or an ideal way – I think it’s nice not to have a lot of close matches, but I think close matches definitely help in terms of team morale,” he continued.
Zimbabwe will play for pride on Sunday (AP Photo/Wonder Mashura)
If Zimbabwe’s last two matches are any indication, the chances of this being a close encounter are slim. After wins over Australia and Sri Lanka made them the darlings of the tournament, the journey across the Palk Strait provided a rude awakening. The Sikandar Raza-led unit was bowled out for West Indies’ 254 runs (in Mumbai) and India’s 256 runs (in Chennai) – both appearing in the top 3 highest totals in T20 World Cup history.“The conditions here in India are different to what we had in Sri Lanka, different pitches and stuff. So it took a while to adapt. We didn’t adapt as quickly or as quickly as we wanted to. And it’s a different surface. So obviously we didn’t go to plan in terms of our execution, but I still think the guys put their hands up that they did the best they could,” Walsh told Courts Consulting bowling.“I hope we take a lot from these conditions for future reference. And I think one of the things, the biggest thing is that how quickly you have to adapt in different conditions is one of the things we take away from this group,” he continued.In the group stage, Zimbabwe and Raza emphasized that they are taken seriously and respected. After two recent beatings, the brutality of the sport means they would have to go for it again.
