T20 World Cup Tips: India v South Africa

JP Duminy has been South Africa's rock in this tournament

Only one of these teams can make it to the semi-final and with both having a net run rate superior to Pakistan's it is pretty much an old fashioned quarter final tie, with the loser taking the next flight home.

India v South Africa
Sky Sports 1
1500hrs BST

India

There was a time on Sunday when it looked as if India could be headed out of the tournament altogether, but they rallied to beat Pakistan and now need a win here to make the semi-finals - although if Pakistan beat Australia then they will also need to win by a larger margin in order to go through.

With Virender Sehwag restored to the opening position it seems unlikely that India will make any changes to their batting lineup, but after seeing South Africa struggle against spin in both of their games they will look to find room for Piyush Chawla or Harbhajan Singh, at the expense of L Balaji.

South Africa

The Proteas could be out of the competition by the time that they play, as a Pakistan win in the day's opener will see AB de Villiers' men eliminated whether they beat India or not. In truth they have underperformed badly on the turning pitch in Colombo and need to shake up their batting lineup to have any chance. This probably means Richard Levi losing his spot at the top of the order, where his inability to play left arm spin has been exposed as being almost Pietersen-esque. Dropping him altogether would free up another bowling slot and enable them to bring back Albie Morkel. This really is a case of bowling first and trying to dismiss your opponent very cheaply so far as South Africa are concerned.

Match odds

India are deservedly favourites but not overwhelmingly so, which is a little surprising. At 1.92n/a to South Africa's 2.06n/a they still look the surer bet, but given the way the South Africans have performed this past week you'd expect the Indians to be shorter than that.

Top India batsman

One of the more unexpected aspects of India's performance in this tournament has been their inability to get a decent opening partnership going. Be it Sehwag or Irfan Pathan partnering Gautam Gambhir, someone has fallen early. The upside is that this has created opportunities for Virat Kholi and he has taken them well, becoming India's top run scorer in this competition in the process. Expect that form to continue and back him at odds of around 4.1n/a

Top South Africa batsman

Amid the chaos of South Africa's batting the one redeeming factor has been the performance of JP Duminy, who alone has looked to have the ability to build an innings rapidly and securely. Indeed, his dismissal against Australia - stumped down the leg side off a ball which went between his legs as he charged down the pitch - was as out of character as it was unusual. Look for him to do the same rebuilding job for South Africa today, an back him at the comparatively lengthy odds of 7.0n/a

Recommended Bet:

Back JP Duminy at 7.06/1 to be top South African batsman

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