SA all set to lock horns with India in final today

KINGSTON OVAL (Bridgetown): Two undefeated and most deserving teams India and South Africa will be up against each other today (Saturday) at the Kingston Oval in a quest to win the coveted T20 World Cup title, honour, and a winning purse of $2.45 million.

For India, the stage is nothing new as they have the experience of making it to the finals in T20 and ODI world cups on numerous occasions, it is the South Africa team that has never been to the final of any world cups.

Seven times, they made it to the semi-finals but never have stepped into a title-deciding match. On Saturday, South Africa will be up against a team that had already won the inaugural title at their backyard in 2007, narrowly defeating Pakistan at the Wanderers (Johannesburg). Since then India have also been struggling to win the T20 title and even the limited-overs title eluded them since 2011. With Rohit Sharma at the twilight of his career and his Head Coach Raul Dravid deciding not to continue his job anymore, India outfit will be looking forward to give both of them a befitting farewell.

The title also holds immense importance for South Africa as despite being one of the best teams around they never have landed their hands on the World Cup trophy. The way South Africa have dismantled every team on their way to final, they would surely prove a hard nut to crack for the India team which mostly rely on their spinners. It would surely be a battle between Indian spinners and South Africa’s batsmen that will decide fate of the final.

India captain Rohit Sharma has urged his team to remain calm and stay composed as they seek a second T20 World Cup title against South Africa. Rohit’s side booked their place in the World Cup final with an emphatic 68-run victory over England in Guyana on Thursday and travel north to Kensington Oval in Barbados to face the Proteas in a battle of the only two unbeaten teams at the tournament.

While Rohit knows importance of the one-off match against the Proteas, the experienced skipper wants his team to enter the clash with the same mindset they used at the event thus far as they try and break their recent drought at ICC tournaments and add a second T20 World Cup trophy to the one they claimed in South Africa in 2007.

“We’ve been very calm as a team,” Rohit said after India’s semi-final victory. “We do understand the occasion (in the final), but for us, it’s important to keep calm and composed. That will help us make good decisions as we need to make these through the 40 overs. In this game too, we were steady and calm, and didn’t panic too much and that thing has been the key for us. We understand the occasion is important so we need to play good cricket.”

In semi-final against England, India spinners made the difference. Kuldeep Yadav (3-19), Axar Patel (3-23) and Ravindra Jadeja (0-16) combined to take six wickets and impress Rohit in the process.

India opted against training on Friday and even did not address media which Rohit Sharma did at the end of semis. South African skipper Aiden Markram was confident of making the best use of the opportunities coming their way.