3 major weaknesses in South Africa's 2023 World Cup squad

South Africa, known perennially to be the chokers of the ICC-held events, come into the Cricket World Cup 2023, being held in India, nicely placed. A lot of former cricketers and pundits have rated their chances of winning the tournament quite highly, whereas to us, they appear to be rather thin.

Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who was the Player of the Tournament of the 2011 event, also held in the subcontinent, said in an interview last month that he thinks "South Africa's time has come."

The Proteas, who have been known to lose their composure by the time they reach the knockout stages of any ICC tournament, will desperately be trying to shed the tag of being called 'chokers' this time around.

Led by Temba Bavuma, South Africa do stand a good chance of making it to the semi-finals of this event. Their tournament begins on October 7, when they take on Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitely Stadium (formerly known as the Feroz Shah Kotla) in Delhi.

In this listicle, we bring to you three major weaknesses in South Africa's squad for the World Cup.

#1 Lack of depth in the spin bowling department

Tabraiz Shamsi (Credits: DNA India)

South Africa, for a World Cup that is being played solely on Indian soil, have picked just two spinners - Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj. While the former seems adept at making a name for himself in whichever corner of the world he is playing in, Maharaj has not quite earned that distinction yet.

The latter is also not that big a turner of the ball, which can go against him on Indian pitches. If there is any place that their opponents will look to target them, it will be the Proteas' spin bowling department.

Apart from the relative experience of Shamsi, it looks quite bare-boned. Amongst part-timers, there is just the genteel off-spin of batter Aiden Markram to speak of apart from the two aforementioned specialists.

#2 Top-order seems to be extremely fragile

Skipper Temba Bavuma is in good form at the top of the order.

South Africa's top order, despite housing some of the biggest names in white-ball cricket, seems to be quite fragile.

Quinton de Kock has a love-hate relationship with the form he shares with Indian surfaces, and if he fails to get going, a lot will fall upon the nimble shoulders of Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markam in the middle order.

Only Temba Bavuma seems to be in good nick at the top of the order, and being the skipper, he will be expected to carry that forward. Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen need to step up to the plate too.

The top order has a lot of work to do and make sure that the late order duo of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller do not end up with too much on their plate.

#3 Inexperienced bowling attack

Kagiso Rabada has to become the leader of the bowling attack.

Apart from Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, there is very little experience in the South African bowling attack. Marco Jansen and Lizaad Williams are relatively new to the international scene, as is Gerald Coetzee.

Even Ngidi, who is only 48 One Day Internationals-old, will rely heavily upon the expertise of Rabada. Tabraiz Shamsi, who has a lot of experience under his belt playing in franchise cricket across the world, has to become one of the leaders of this bowling attack along with Rabada.

South Africa will need the Rabada-Shamsi duo to lead the others in this rather inexperienced attack. They will be able to compete well in this World Cup only if their bowlers step up to the expectations created by their batters.