ICC World Twenty20: England eye South Africa scalp

After being ripped apart by Chris Gayle in their first game against West Indies, England are in a must-win situation against South Africa in their Super 10 Group 1 World Twenty20 clash at Wankhede Stadium here on Friday.

England will be under pressure to deliver in order to stay in the tournament and eager to forget the individual brilliance by Gayle on Wednesday to put their best foot forward against a quality South African side.

It will be the opening game for South Africa and they will aim to put England under more pressure. The Faf du Plessis-led side have won five consecutive limited over games between the two sides recently including a 2-0 T20 series whitewash and they will we hoping to inflict more misery on the Poms who went out early in the last ICC ODI World Cup.

The Proteas regard this ground like the Wanderers and scored a mammoth 438 here against India in the ODI series decider here last year. They also defeated India XI in a warm-up game here on Saturday and would like to continue their love affair with the Wankhede wicket.

“Great thing about this stadium, it is a genuinely nice T20 run feast. You try to make sure you capitalise on that. I compare it to Wanderers in SA. You don’t know what is enough score on this wicket,” the South Africa skipper observed on Thursday.

England did well to post 182 against the West Indies with every batsman coming to the fore without going on to make a big one. Their bowlers had no reply to Gayle’s brute force and were undisciplined at times. They will have to bowl well on Friday to escape a similar assault from the likes of AB de Villiers.

South Africa are a strong squad and have selections issues before them. With Dale Steyn fit to partner Kagiso Rabada, they will have to dwell whether to include Kyle Abott or go with two all-rounders in David Wiese and Chris Morris as they did in the previous series against Australia. Leg-spinner Imran Tahir gives them attacking option and J.P. Duminy can keep it tight with the ball.

The return of a fit-again de Villiers means that they may change the batting order. AB opened with Quinton de Kock against Australia but in the last game his injury meant Hashim Amla got the chance and he grabbed it. de Villiers will have to come at four after du Plessis, followed by Duminy and Miller.