India take on South Africa in T20 World Cup final

July 1, 2024

Author: India Weekly

While the Men in Blue made their third final in T20 World Cup and the first time in a decade, the Proteas have entered their first-ever final in any world cup.

INDIA thrashed defending champions England by 68 runs in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 in Guyana on Thursday (27) and will meet South Africa in the final of the tournament in Barbados on Saturday (29).

The Proteas made their maiden final in any world cup — be it in 20 or 50 overs — when they hammered Afghanistan by nine wickets in the first semi-final in Trinidad and Tobago earlier in the day.

Both teams have remained unbeaten in the competition with South Africa winning all their games while India having one washout against Canada in the group stage.

India and South Africa have met six times in the T20 World Cup with the former having a 4–2 lead. Overall, they have played 26 times with India having a 14–11 lead with one game seeing no result. However, in the last five matches, South Africa have won three against India’s two.

This will be India’s third appearance in the final of a T20 World Cup and the first time in a decade. They won the title in the inaugural edition in 2007 when they pipped arch-rivals Pakistan by five runs. They lost to Sri Lanka in the final of the 2014 edition in Bangladesh.

South Africa, on the other hand, have fallen in world cup semi-finals seven times across all formats before they killed the curse against Afghanistan.

The match will be played at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados. It is a ground that has been hosting cricket matches for more than 120 years and international teams as early as 1895.

It was also the venue for the finals of the 50-over World Cup in 2007 when Australia beat Sri Lanka and the T20 World Cup in 2010 when England defeated Australia.

India’s path to final:

Beat Ireland by 8 wickets; beat Pakistan by six runs; beat US by 7 wickets; wash out against Canada in group stage; beat Afghanistan by 34 runs; beat Bangladesh by 50 runs; beat Australia by 24 runs in Super Eight; beat England by 68 runs in semi-final.

South Africa’s path to final:

Beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets; beat Netherlands by 4 wickets; Bangladesh by 4 runs; beat Nepal by 1 run in group stage; beat US by 18 runs; beat England by 7 runs; beat West Indies by 3 wickets in Super Eight; beat Afghanistan by nine wickets in semi-finals.

Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

South Africa: Aiden Markram ©, Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs