The long tour of South Africa is finally coming to an end for the English with the final T20I slated to be played at the bullring in Johannesburg. It has been a keenly contested battle especially in the shorter formats of the game as South Africa eked out a 3-2 victory in the ODI series and then won a last ball thriller in the first T20I at Newlands. There have been plenty of fascinating sub plots which have unravelled and which have had a huge impact on the outcome of the matches so far. These two teams are slated to meet again at the group stage of the ICC WT20 and it would be a huge psychological advantage to the team winning this match going forward.
4 Fantastico Battles that could have an impact on the 2nd T20I between SavEng:
Alex Hales and Joe Root Vs Kasigo Rabada and Kyle Abbott
Alex Hales has been the man who has done most of the damage for the English at the top of the order while Root has supported him well with twin hundreds in the last two ODI matches. These two however failed in the first T20I and it will be imperative that they cash in against Kyle Abbott and Kasigo Rabada in particular. Rabada and Abbott have been the danger men for the Africans and Hales and Root are best suited to launch a counter attack against them.
Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler Vs Imran Tahir
Stokes and Buttler have been the catalysts who have been instrumental in England scoring rapidly in the middle and slog overs. Imran Tahir did not start the ODI series on a great note but he has been fabulous in the last ODI as well as the first T20I where he took 4 wickets for 21 runs to derail the English batting. Stokes and Buttler will need to reign themselves in and wait for the bad deliveries to smack otherwise Tahir can again wreck havoc if he sniffs blood. The impact that Stokes and Buttler can have when in full flow is huge but so is the case when Tahir is on song as he showed at Newlands!
AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis Vs Reece Topley and Chris Jordan
De Villiers is probably the best batsman among all current cricketers but for all his heroics he has been modest in the T20I's for South Africa. He can explore the whole 360 degrees on the field and he will look to take on Reece Topley first up as he will open the innings in the absence of Quinton de Kock. Faf du Plessis has a much superior record in the shortest format of the game and his battle with Chris Jordan, who took 3 wickets for just 23 runs in his 4 overs and nearly won England the game, will be exciting to watch.
David Miller and Chris Morris Vs Adil Rashid
Miller has not been in the greatest form and was left out of the ODI side but he hit a crucial four and a six in the dying stages of the first T20I at Newlands to bring the game closer home. It was Morris who took over after Miller departed and he blasted 17 off just 7 balls as South Africa stole the game from the jaws of a near defeat. Adil Rashid might not prove so easy for these big hitters to put away as he has good variations in his armoury. Morgan might consider saving an over or two of Rashid against the South African finishers.
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
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