India and South Africa face each other in the 29th match of the ICC World Cup 2011 at a time when both teams are at the target of critics. A very keen contest is expected in Nagpur, which starts 2:30 P.M. on Saturday as both the times are preparing to prove the critics wrong.
Though India have not lost any match but it has a deficit of one point due to the tie match against England. Indian team is facing criticism, as their comfort level in the wins against Ireland and the Netherlands was very low. Indian media termed those wins as 'struggling and stumbling victories'.
The not so successful stint of Harbhajan Singh till now is also a matter of concern for the Indian fans. Piyush Chawla is in the firing line and he might be replaced with R Ashwin.
In fact apart from Zaheer Khan all the Indian bowlers seem to be struggling. The late replacement for Pravenn Kumar, S. Sreesanth is still nowhere. Ashish Nehra's fitness is a mystery. Munaf Patel, like Piyush Chawla is being criticised for giving away too many runs.
MS Dhoni's recent remarks about his bowlers remind the basic difference in an aggressive captain and a captain who thinks otherwise. Dhoni says that ' If I have two bowlers who are giving 70 runs from 20 overs, I would be quite happy with them even if they don't take wickets because ultimately the pressure turns on the batsmen to score runs in today's format'.
The 1992 World Cup winning team's captain of Pakistan Imran Khan had a different view. He asked Wasim Akram to bowl fast and take wickets without fearing for the wides and the no balls. The world knows Wasim Akram's bowling performance in that tournament.
For South Africa Imran Tahir has been quite a big success as a tweaker but he is doubtful because of injury. Still, South Africa would find it very difficult to do away the temptation of playing Imran who could be a real surprise pack for the Indian batsmen. Johan Botha is expected to replace him if it is finally decided to drop him.
South Africa is also concerned with the form or rather lack of form of Jacques Kallis with both bat and ball. Dale Styen is also not proving that threatening as he is capable of.
As England have suffered two upsets, India and South Africa find their ways to quarterfinal a bit easier but the win in this match would be great morale booster.
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