Cricket enthusiasts are looking forward with bated breath as the most exciting ICC event of 2021, World Cup T20, starts unfolding.
With different cricket teams from different countries gearing up in UAE to take on their matches, one team that is surely under close watch by cricketing experts in the South African cricket team. With several ups and downs and challenges faced over the past year, how the South African players are going to perform in this T20 World Cup 2021 is of major attention, say experts at Betway.
Even though the South African cricket team are perennially known to be underachievers in international cricketing events, they seem to be exuding a calm sense of confidence and positivity as the World Cup T20 tournament unfolds. And they have quite a track record to vouch for their positivity this time.
South Africa’s wins earlier this year
South Africa has done exceptionally well in the third T20 International against Sri Lanka, which was held in September. They have shown quite a turnaround performance by winning this series. Among the top run-scoring batsmen to the best bowlers, they have all of them in their team.
Their spinners had put up a spectacular show in the second T20 International. This accounted for 9 out of 10 wickets, bowling out Sri Lanka for a miserable 103 runs. Their batsmen were no less than stunning, with players like Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks batting up a storm leading the team to become series winners.
The WC T20 captain of South Africa, Temba Bavuma, has said that they have performed well collectively, and positive results are favorable for the team’s confidence.
These positive results include the recent streak of seven consecutive wins in T20I including wins against Ireland, Sri Lanka, and WC t20 champions West Indies.
Building up on the performance
In the last 12 months, South Africa has been building up on its accuracy in spin bowling. This will be advantageous for playing on the slow pitches in UAE during the World Cup T20. Now, this is something notable for a country that is hailed for its line-up of pace bowlers.
When it comes to their batting side, all hopes were majorly pinned onto Quinton de Kock, who performed dismally as a captain in all of the international cricket events during January and February, prompting him to take a break on grounds of mental health. However, with the weight of captaincy now lifted off his shoulders, de Kock has shown significant improvement in his performance. In fact, the duo of de Kock and Hendricks has proved to be power-packed, bagging wins for the South African cricket team.
SA’s first black captain, Bavuma, notes that there is no significant performance pressure on the team from external perspectives. Of course, they do have expectations within the team. But the team is notably free-spirited, which helps them take on the WC T20 tournament with greater confidence and spirit.
