West Indies eye redemption against scratchy South Africa

Two of the most dominant sides in world cricket, England and West Indies clashed against each other on Saturday in a much-anticipated match which was the rematch of the summit clash of the 2016 edition of the mega event. However, unlike the final, which witnessed West Indies create history, this game turned out to be the one every Windies fan would want to erase from their memory. 

The defending champions endured a dismal performance with the bat and slumped to their lowest score of 55 in the shortest format of the game at a world event. Despite having a plethora of stars in the squad and a wealth of experience plying their trade in the various franchise based tournaments, inconsistency has been the Achilles Heel for the West Indies outfit in the past couple of seasons. 

On the other hand, South Africa have been riddled with complications within the system. While the fast bowling unit looks lethal with the likes of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada, they missed out on acquiring the services of Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers to guide the inexperienced batting unit, leading to their downfall. 

Bruised and battered because of their performances in the opening match of the Super 12s, the two sides will enter this much-awaited clash on Tuesday, 26th October, at the Dubai International Stadium with an aim to get their campaign back on track in the Group of Death. 

Opening woes for the Windies

Lendl Simmons has endured a string of low scores in the last five matches in this form of the game. Barring a 72 against Australia, the right-handed batter has failed to notch up a substantial score for the side. To make things worse for him and the reigning champions, he has been striking at 131 against pace in the T20s and 97 against spin. With the sluggish wickets on offer, his struggle to take the attack to the spinners in the opposition bowling unit, especially in the powerplay, has caused plenty of trouble for the team. 

While it will be interesting to see the strategy deployed by the Windies in the must-win game tomorrow, the Men in Maroon can opt for Chris Gayle to slot in as an opener and bolster the middle order with the inclusion of Roston Chase. 

Over the years, the southpaw has been at his lethal best opening the batting and even forged a formidable opening partnership in the four T20Is with Evin Lewis. The duo have notched up three stands of over 70 runs in four matches and have a strike rate of over 160 which helped the Windies record three wins. 

Can the Windies slot Chase into their playing XI?

Despite being uncapped in the shortest format of the game, Chase has been in prolific form and stormed his way into the squad on the back of being the leading run-scorer in the Caribbean Premier League with 446 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 144.34. With left-handers in the batting unit of the Proteas, the 29-year old will be equally handy with his off-spin and will come into the event riding high on confidence after picking up ten wickets at an economy of 6.9 in the CPL. 

Another significant reason for West Indies to ponder on the inclusion of Chase in the struggle of Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma against right-arm off-spinners. While the left-hander has been dismissed five times and has a strike rate of 97, the Proteas skipper has been dismissed on four occasions and has a strike rate of 91 this season. 

South Africa need to solve the batting conundrum

While Aiden Markram has been the designated top-order bat for the South African side in all three formats of the game, the right-handed batter has struggled with his strike rate batting at number four with the spinners in operation. 

In the T20Is this year, Markram has amassed 139 runs in three innings at an average of 69.5 and a strike rate of 139 batting at number three compared to 130 runs in five innings at an average of 26 and a strike rate of 118 at number four. On the other hand, Rassie van der Dussen has struggled with the pace early in the innings and averages 28.1 against them compared to 75 against spin in T20s. 

Van der Dussen has been an exceptional player of spin and scored 225 runs in 21 innings against spin at an average of 75, which is the second-highest average against spin since 2018 among players with a minimum of 200 runs. With the slow surface on offer at the United Arab Emirates in this competition, the 32-year old's ability to maneuver the ball around and attack the spinners in the middle overs can help the team add stability to the batting department.

Probable XI:

West Indies:  Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Lendl Simmons/ Roston Chase, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Kieron Pollard (c), Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Akeil Hossain, Ravi Rampaul, Obed McCoy

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie ven der Dussen, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretoius, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Norjte, Tabraiz Shamsi