After losing the first two T20Is, Team India bounced back well to level the ongoing five-match home series against South Africa at 2-2. And, the fifth and final match will be played on Sunday at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium as well. However, former wicketkeeper-batter Morne van Wyk, who represented South Africa in 17 ODIs and eight T20Is between 2003 and 2015, said that India are the “favourites” heading into the final T20I.
Van Wyk told Sportskeeda exclusively on Saturday: “India definitely are the favourites. There are question marks over the South African team in terms of adaptability. They’ve been unable to find the winning recipe since the third game and have lost momentum. The surfaces have become slower as the series has progressed, but you should give full credit to the Indian batters for their shot selection in the last two matches.”
The South African T20I team have been doing well since June 2021, winning 15 of their last 20 games in the shortest format as well. They bagged four consecutive wins in last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE but failed to reach the semi-finals from Group 1 due to having an inferior net run rate (NRR) to England and Australia as well.
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“I think South Africa will reach the semi-finals this time. Sunday’s series decider will be huge in terms of confidence. I doubt if this series will have any bearing on the T20 World Cup as the tournament is still three months away. You can’t always rely on Miller’s finishing skills and Rabada’s death bowling. More players need to contribute. As far as our spin attack is concerned, I would say Shamsi is still a match-winner. He’s ranked third in T20Is, but hasn’t been able to make an impact in this series because the Indian batters have tackled him really well,” he again said.
Meanwhile, Morne van Wyk has also opined on Faf du Plessis’ international career as he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for ₹7 crores in February’s mega auction and was handed over the leadership responsibilities. Du Plessis scored 468 runs in 16 innings at an average of 31.20 and a strike rate of 127.52. Although Du Plessis announced his retirement from Test cricket in early 2021, he hasn’t announced his retirement from white-ball formats.
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“Faf is a great player, but where will South Africa play him? You can’t have him open the batting because Temba Bavuma is doing that. You might consider bringing him in for Rassie van der Dussen, but Rassie has been pretty consistent. I think Faf is now a closed chapter for Cricket South Africa and vice-versa. Rilee Rossouw, meanwhile, has a strong chance of making a comeback. He has scored runs in T20 leagues across the globe,” Morne van Wyk concluded.
