5 things India must do to beat South Africa

On Sunday, India beat their rivals Pakistan and started the World Cup Journey in a victorious mood. Expectedly, the expectations have been raised and the Indian fans are hoping that India will break their World Cup jinx against South Africa. However, defeating South Africa is not a cakewalk considering their blistering batsmen and ruthless bowlers.Sachin Tendulkar also said that South Africa will be difficult to beat. So, India have to approach the upcoming game in a more serious way. They have to put a fine show in all the departments to break their jinx against the team from Africa.Following are the key factors which will help India get one over South Africa:

#1 A crucial innings by Rohit, Rahane or Virat

Following are the reasons to expect these players to turn the tide in Indias way:

Rohit Sharma: Yes, he takes time to middle the ball. But, he is a technically sound player and once he starts playing his shots, he takes the game away from the opposition. He has proved this when he hammered the leather to all corners of the ground while scoring his two double centuries in ODIs. To repeatthe same, he has to avoid playing lose and lazy shots.

Ajinkya Rahane: He has a gift of playing the perfect cricketing shots and his repertoire of shots indicate that he can face top quality bowlers like Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel confidently. In the recent Carlton Mid ODI tri-series, while many batsmen fumbled, Rahane played some fine innings.

Virat Kohli:No explanation is needed for this talented player. Along with rotating the strike, he knows how to keep the strike rate around the hundred mark by smashing theballs pastthe boundary. He has been in terrific form and India rarely loses when he scores a century.

#2 Attack the right bowlers

The Indian batsmen should not be fooled by Dale Steyn’s and Morne Morkel’s poor economy in the recent match they played against Zimbabwe. The Indians don’t have to be afraid of them, but have to respect the duo. It can be a positive strategy to defend against these two and attack the remaining bowlers.

Let’s say, India bats out Steyn and Morkel’s 20 overs scoring around 80 runs with only 1 or 2 wickets. The remaining bowlers like JP Duminy, Imran Tahir and Vernon Philander can be attacked to score around 200-220 in the remaining 30 overs.

JP Duminy, a part-time spinner won’t be able to trick the Indian batsmen easily as they are very good against spinners. This applies to Imran Tahir too except he is a full-time leg-break bowler. But, he lacks the experience needed for the big tournaments. On the other hand, batsmen should be cautious against Philander, but once his line and length are picked up, he can be attacked by the settled Indian batsmen.

#3 Restrict AB, Amla and Miller from scoring big knocks

Here, a big knock means a score around 100. South Africa’s biggest disadvantage is their long tail. If the top order is wiped out early in their inning, the tail-enders are exposed. Thus, it can be possible to restrict them around 250. Unfortunately, the strength of their top order is such that it will take a monumental effort from the Indians to get past them without getting hammered.

Sachin accepted that there is no flaw in AB de Villiers’ batting. The question India needs to answer is – how to stop this fantastic player?

India should not allow AB, Hashim Amla or David Miller to free their hands. Big catches, accurate throws on the stumps and boundary-saving dives. India needs to pull all stops in order to stop these batsmen, who are capable of changing the course of a match, single-handedly.

#4 Spinners, go and play your tricks

South African batsmen are ill-famed for collapsing against spinners, with the exception of AB and Amla. But, the others are known to struggle against quality spin bowlers. Therefore, the Indian spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel along with part-time bowler Suresh Raina can spin the South Africans into a web.

History tells that, the Melbourne cricket ground doesn’t assist spin. However, the carrom bowler, Ashwin doesn’t depend on spin. He can bowl with variations in his wrists. His strategy should be bowling very tight overs as he did against Pakistan in Adelaide on 15th February. He has been successful in putting pressure on the batsmen with the maiden overs and has forced them to play the wrong shots.Whereas, Jadeja’s career graph shows that he can make any batsman to play a bad shot and turn the match around. Believing in himself will be the key for him while playing against Africa. Although, his selection for the final 11 will be an issue as he will be competing with Axar and Stuart Binny for a place in the eleven.

If any pacer is being hammered across the park or if the conditions are supporting spinners, Raina can be used by MS Dhoni as well.

#5 Dont forget, you are the defending champions

It feels like India won the World Cup decades ago because theirmorale has plummetteddue to failures in their recent overseas tours. India has to forget the failures and find the spark again which helped them win the World Cup just 4 years ago.

The BCCI planned well and kept the team away from the cricket after the triangular series. The team got refreshed and energized which resulted in a ruthless victory over Pakistan in the first match of India in this World Cup. India has to keep the same momentum going to beat South Africa.