South Africa are also missing some of their legendary names, with Graeme Smith injured and Jacques Kallis skipping the tournament for personal reasons. Their fans might have felt reassured looking at the familiar bowling line-up, but Dale Steyn's side strain means he could miss the first game. However both teams looks confident after the great warm up matches.
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| India Vs South Africa Champions Trophy 2013 Live |
At
least they can still rely on the calm guidance of Gary Kirsten, who has had a
golden run in his two years as coach. He has already firmly established South
Africa as the best Test side in the world, a position they flirted with for a
couple of decades without really nailing it down. The next challenge for
Kirsten, who will step down as South Africa coach later this month, is to end
his country's painfully long hunt for an ICC trophy to go along with their
triumph in the inaugural version of this tournament way back in 1998.
While
South Africa have at least been able to focus entirely on the cricket, India
haven't. For the past few weeks in India, cricket has dominated newspaper front
pages and has been breathlessly reported on round-the-clock by television
channels, but almost all of it has been about the corruption in the IPL, and
the ensuing turmoil in the BCCI. Even as MS Dhoni was addressing the press in
Cardiff ahead of the opening match of the Champions Trophy, the cricket news
back in India was about the Delhi Police questioning the owners of Rajasthan
Royals in connection with the spot-fixing controversy.
Dhoni's
already has a stellar CV as captain, but marshalling this new-look team under
these distractions, especially in a short tournament like the Champions Trophy
where even one defeat could mean elimination, will be among the biggest
challenges of his career.
Last Five Matches:
India LWWWL
South Africa WWLWL
Team news
Dinesh
Karthik seems to have forced his way into the XI after a couple of sparkling
centuries in the warm-up matches, which leaves India with two places to decide.
One of the openers' slots is likely to be a toss-up between Rohit Sharma, who
had mixed success at the top of the order in the series against England earlier
this year, and M Vijay, who has had a poor IPL and is yet to convince in ODIs.
The allrounders' spot is a contest between Ravindra Jadeja and Irfan Pathan,
and who gets the nod could depend on whether India are adventurous enough to
opt for a four-man pace attack.
India: (probable) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit
Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Dinesh Karthik, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Suresh
Raina, 7 Ravindra Jadeja/ Irfan Pathan, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10
Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav
"Steyn
does not look good at all. It's touch and go," AB de Villiers said the day
before the opening game. In case Steyn is deemed unfit, it is likely that Rory
Kleniveldt will take his place. The rest of the line-up looks fairly settled,
with David Miller likely to miss out in the middle order.
South
Africa: (probable)
1 Hashim Amla, 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Colin Ingram, 4 AB de Villiers (capt &
wk), 5 Faf du Plessis, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Robin Peterson, 9 Rory
Kleinveldt, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe
Pitch and conditions
Both
top orders struggled in the India-Australia warm-up
match on Tuesday in Cardiff, but Karthik and Dhoni showed there weren't too
many devils in the track. Dhoni's verdict on the pitch was: "There was not
much swing for them but there was variable pace on offer." Though
Australia were rolled over for 65 by India, they had comfortably chased down
257 against West Indies on
a similar surface on Saturday.
Stats
·
South Africa have the worst ODI record in England over the past
six years, having won only two matches in 10
·
Of the players in the squads of the two teams, only AB de
Villiers has aggregated 100 or more runs in the Champions Trophy
·
India have won both their encounters against South Africa in the
Champions Trophy, the last of which was in 2002.
Of those who played that 2002 fixture, only Robin Peterson is in the current
tournament's squads.
Match Details:
Champions Trophy 2013
League Match Group B
India Vs South Africa
Date:Thursday, June 6
Start time 9.30am GMT, 3:00 PM IST, 3:15 NST
Venue: Cardif
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