India will be desperate to end their global title drought while South Africa are also trying to dismiss the ‘chokers’ label at Kensington Oval in a battle of the unbeaten sides in T20 World Cup final.
Their perfect runs and landslide wins during the semi-final stage confirmed that the two best teams in a 20-team competition have gotten into the final match held in Bridgetown.
On Sunday, South Africa ended Afghanistan’s fairy tale run in the first semi-final played at Trinidad whereas India stopped England’s title defense yesterday by winning over them thus getting through for the third consecutive time into a global final across all formats.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma will be looking forward to making it third time lucky after having led his side to defeat both in the finals of World Test Championship and home World Cup fifty overs last year.
Rohit is just 37, similarly Virat Kohli is 35, and this could be their last T20 World Cup; hence lifting up this trophy could be an ideal farewell for them.
They seem to have everything right so far with regards to both strategy and personnel that could pull it off.
At the top of India’s batting order is Rohit, a personification of their attacking approach which encourages multiple cameo appearances from various batters as opposed one great swing/touch/ innings that decides matches singularly.
Through this second half, they have had three spinners who have been much helpful while their main fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been almost unplayable.
It will also test South African opponents’ nerves since they faced their first ever world cup final at any format after seven heart-breaking semi-finals.
They had lethal speedsters who always rescued them whenever their batsmen flopped on some like occasions;
Quinton de Kock has made good use of his experience gained from playing Caribbean Premier League matches where he was among several influential hitters available from number five downwards.
There is also a cool-headed leader who has gone 10 games unbeaten as captain in Aiden Markram, South Africa.
