The final game of the T20 World Cup will be played between the two unbeaten sides India and South Africa in Bridgetown on 29th June, 2024.
Team Preview:
There is no fairytale ending in life but tomorrow a sport will offer a perfect ending to either the campaign of South Africa Or India.
For South Africa, it will be the best moment ever. Right from the word go, South Africa failed to put on a great show and failed to play the ICC events. And then they changed a few things and now they have been a force to reckon with. They have a rich history in sport, including good and bad events, but this time they will head up to remove the chokers title and finally lift up an ICC title after ages.
South Africa lost the semi-final of the ODI World Cup to the eventual champions Australia and in the 2022 T20 World Cup their dream run in the tournament was halted by the Netherlands. And this time, they are unbeaten, haven’t shown convincing performances so far but held the nerves under the pump and copped the pressure calmly.
And against India, they will look to replicate what they have been doing in this World Cup so far. All eyes will be on Marco Jansen who has bowled well in the powerplay for South Africa and given Reeza Hendricks found himself among the runs against Afghanistan will help Africa in the batting department.
Heinrich Klaasen will be the key for Aiden Makram team as his strike rate is impressive against spin and he can hit the new ball as well. This World Cup is yet to witness his destructive mood but players of his quality rarely go too long without contributing.
Talking about India, since their World Cup triumph in 2012, they have come so close to lifting up the ICC title but failed to do so. They lost to Pakistan in the final of the Champions Trophy 2017, could not overpower England in the semi-final of the 2022 T20 World Cup, and were vanquished by Australia in the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup.
But, this time Rohit Sharma’s men have yet another chance to create history and finally live their dream. They have been a force to reckon with in this World Cup so far and ironically the only team that came closer to beat India was Pakistan.
Rohit Sharma is in great form, Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya have shown all-round performances, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav have been on song as well.
So, India has all the firepower and balance to beat South Africa in the final of the T20 World Cup 2024.
If South Africa wins it will be seismic as they will have with them the entire nation that at some point thought they will never see this day. And If India wins they will finally be able to end their trophy drought in a style.
Weather and pitch condition:
There is a threat of rain in the final but the game has a reserve day. The stadium Kensington Oval has aided fast bowlers in the T20 World Cup as the pacers had the economy rate of 7.88 so far. There was only one total above 200 on this pitch while the rest of the total ranged between 109 and 181.
The final will be played on the same pitch that was used for the games between Oman and Namibia and Scotland and England.
Head-to-head record:
The two sides have played 26 T20is so far and India have won 14 games and South Africa clinched victory in 11 games.
Predictions:
It is going to be a tough game. Both of the teams have shown great performances so far but India are hot favourites to win this World Cup.
Where to watch:
Pakistan – PTV Sports, Ten Sports, Myco (Live streaming), Tamasha app (Live streaming), Tapmad (live streaming)
India – Star Sports
England – SkySport Network
USA and Canada (Willow TV)
Caribbean – ESPN Caribbean
New Zealand & Australia – Sky Sports NZ, Prime Video
UK & Northern Ireland – Sky Sports
Sri Lanka – Maharaja TV
Other regions – SuperSport, Sirasa, CricLife, STARZPLAY
