T20 World Cup: Unburdened South Africa take on misfiring Australia

South Africa
come into the T20 World Cup with a much-diminished star-power compared to
previous editions and therefore without the burden of expectation but will
fancy their chances against an Australian side that features a number of misfiring
campaigners in their opening Super 12 Group 1 fixture on Saturday.

Consecutive
series against Bangladesh, West Indies, New Zealand, India and England make
matters all the worse for the Aussies, for whom the concerns start at the top
of the order. David Warner is coming off the back of his worst-ever Indian
Premier League season, having been dropped by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second
half of the season. His troubled run continued in the two warm-up games where
he scored 0 and 1.

His opening
partner and skipper Aaron Finch has had little playing time since a knee
surgery, and vice-captain Pat Cummins has also not played a game since the
first leg of the IPL in April. But the form of Glenn Maxwell will be a danger for any team in the tournament and the Proteas will be aware of that. 

South
Africa, on the other hand, will enter the clash high on spirits and in-form,
having emerged victorious in three consecutive series against defending
champions West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka and both the practice games.

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Having gone
through a revival, the squad doesn’t boast of superstars like the previous
Proteas sides and hence expectations to win the tournament are low, removing
the massive burden of pressure that usually casts a shadow on the team in every
ICC tournament.

South
Africa have lot of openers stacked on top, with the likes of skipper Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Aiden
Markram and Reeza Hendricks, but when they don’t perform the going gets tough
for them. The shallow middle order and lack of solid finishers don’t really
help the case. Power-hitter David Miller’s form is a big concern.

However,
the Proteas have a potent bowling lineup, spearheaded by the pace duo of Kagiso
Rabada and Anrich Nortje. Lungi Ngidi is another capable seamer, while Tabraiz
Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj make up the spin department.