Sri Lanka vs South Africa 2018, Only T20I: 3 reasons why South Africa will win the match

South Africa looked lost as they were searching for answers and couldn’t find any in the Test series against the hosts Sri Lanka. On dusty, low surfaces, South Africa didn’t have any way to conquer the spin trio of Rangana Herath, Akila Dananjaya and Dilruwan Perera.

South Africa were steamrolled in the Test series and were looking to put those thoughts away and get to winning ways on their tour of the island nation. And that’s exactly what happened as the change in format bought about a change in fortunes for the visitors.

Sri Lanka, in coloured clothing, just don’t know how to win games. They have forgotten the art of controlling the crucial moments of a game. Taking advantage of shifts in momentum in an ODI or T20I game is something this team has forgotten.

And that’s visible in the results- they have lost nine ODI series in a row now including a home series against Zimbabwe, post which, Angelo Mathews stepped down as ODI captain. The same player had to step into the captain's shoes against the Proteas owing to the ban imposed on their regular skipper- Dinesh Chandimal.

The ODI series resembled a typical Sri Lankan performance, what we have sadly been accustomed to. Very few players standing up and performing, a listless bowling unit and just that as a team they are not able to put up a complete performance.

Things are not going to be too different when the teams lock horns in a one-off T20I at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on August 14th, 2018. With the momentum on their side and with many of their big players standing up, Sri Lanka are going to find it hard to dislodge this Proteas side.

Here’s looking at three reasons why South Africa will win the only T20I against Sri Lanka:

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Jean-Paul Duminy’s resurgence a big positive for South Africa

Post the void created by the retirement of AB de Villers from all forms of the game and with the middle order looking vulnerable for South Africa in recent times, it was important that the regular fixtures of their team took up the responsibility and delivered.

It is indeed very good to see the talented all-rounder JP Duminy find good match-winning form in the ODIs against Sri Lanka. That automatically adds more potency to the Proteas middle order as an in-form JP Duminy can play both spinners and fast bowlers well and is capable of providing the finishing touches to the innings - while putting up a score or chasing down totals.

South Africa are looking to fill in the void in the middle order and David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen can attack from the word go.

Sri Lanka haven’t been able to get the measure of JP Duminy as yet in the ODI series. They need to find ways of keeping him quiet in the one-off T20I in order to stand a good chance of winning the game. Having scored 1822 runs in 76 T20Is at an average of 37.96 at a strike rate of 124.79, there is proven match-winning talent in this fine all-rounder.

South Africa’s bowlers have been too hot to handle for the hosts

Lungi Ngidi

Sri Lanka have been struggling to handle the South African bowlers in the ODI series. The Test team was able to handle the likes of Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi rather well. Keshav Maharaj’s returns from the two-match series was the standout performance from a Proteas point of view.

But it’s almost like once the color of the jersey changes, Sri Lanka’s batsmen don’t seem to have any solutions to tackle the bowling. The pitches seen in the ODI series have had decent carry and bounce but on a whole have been batting friendly pitches.

But yet the likes of Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabadda and Tabraiz Shamsi have completely controlled the battle against Sri Lanka. The bowlers have hit the deck, extracted bounce and pace and have used their variations rather effectively.

Not too much will change when the teams face off in the T20I. Sri Lanka need to attack the fast bowlers from the word go to put them out of their set plans. Kusal Perera and Niroshan Dickwella should take the responsibility to bring the momentum in the start of the T20I. Once the momentum shifts in your favor it’s hard to stop a team.

It certainly will be interesting to see how the same bowlers who dominated the Sri Lankan batsmen fare in the one-off T20I. Can Lungi Ngidi deliver yet another solid performance?

The IPL factor- South African player’s exposure in the IPL will help them tremendously

It is a known fact that every country is facing a problem of overload, people management amidst the extremely tight schedules. So in these times, T20 internationals are few and far in between.

There are full-fledged ODI and Test series planned with a one off or maximum two match T20I series which is played in the intention of bringing in more crowds to the stadium to cash in the popularity factor of T20s.

So it becomes important to play competitive, world class T20 cricket when T20 internationals aren’t on the itinerary. South African players have been rather south after in cash rich T20 leagues across the globe such as the Indian Premier League( IPL), Big Bash League( BBL) and Caribbean Premier League( CPL).

The exposure of the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, David Miller, Junior Dala, JP Duminy and Faf Du Plessis get by playing in such leagues will hold them in good stead when they play T20s for South Africa. As they are used to playing T20s in similar conditions as what they will face in Sri Lanka.

That’s another aspect where Sri Lanka’s catastrophic run in the ODIs and T20s recently has adversely impacted their players. Barring the likes of Angelo Mathews, Thissara Perera and Akila Dananjaya no one else found buyers in the biggest T20 league- IPL.

The Lankan players are missing out on global exposure, missing out on a chance to learn and play with the best players from across the globe and most importantly are underprepared to play T20s.

But T20Is can change due to the brilliance of one player. Sri Lanka would hope that they can end their tour against South Africa as they started it- on a winning note.