South Africa are determined to defeat Afghanistan as they take on the Asian team Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. South Africa are one of the World T20 title favourites, but they did not do justice to their tag, losing to England in a high-scoring game.
South Africa batsmen were superb in their first match against England, scoring 229 runs in their allotted overs, which should have been enough for a win. However, South Africa bowlers were below par as England chased down the total with two balls to spare.
The Proteas must be hurting after such a loss, and will be keen to come up with an all-round performance against Afghanistan. South Africa are expected to win this one comfortably, with the number of match-winners on their side.
Though their bowlers like Dale Steyn, Klyle Abbott and Imran Tahir might have been poor against England, they are a strong bowling unit. Their batting line-up with AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock and David Miller is one of the strongest in the competition.
Despite such quality in their team, South Africa's opener Amla does not want his team to take Afghanistan lightly. Amla has seen their performance against Sri Lanka, where they compiled 150 runs, and believes they are a good unit.
"You can't take any team for granted. We saw how they played against Sri Lanka and the shorter the format the more the minnow teams are in the running. We have to play our best players to beat them," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Amla as saying.
"What we know is basically what we've seen in their game against Sri Lanka and the preliminary tournament. We leave that to our brains trust, but they are a good team and you don't take them lightly."
Though Amla might consider Afghnaistan a good team, the Afghans need to come up with their best cricket to defeat South Africa. They should not be short of confidence after having played some good cricket in the qualifiers, and also against Sri Lanka, despite the loss.
Afghanistan are ready for a high-scoring game, as was witnessed between South Africa and England. With South Africa players not great at playing spin, Afghanistan skipper Asghar Stanikzai can hope their spin trio of Mohhamad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Hamza Hotak will play an important role Sunday.
"The Wankhede is famous for big scores and big targets so definitely, if one team sets a big total, the other team will be trying to complete it because the boundaries are not big. It will be a good game, but we hope we bowl well because our spin is our strength, [sic]" ESPN Cricinfo quoted Stanikzai as saying.
"We have a good spin attack, the leggie Rashid, Nabi a good offbreak [bowler], and Hamza the leftie, throughout the tournament they have bowled very well."
Afghanistan are second-favourites to win the match, but it remains to be seen if their bold and fearless approach will create a massive upset in the ICC World T20.
Where to watch live
South Africa vs Afghanistan World T20 is set to begin at 3 p.m. IST (9:30 a.m. GMT, 5:30 a.m. ET). Star Sports 1, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD1and Star Sports HD3 will provide live TV coverage for viewers in India and the rest of South Asia. Viewers can also watch England vs South Africa World T20 live streaming on Starsports online and Hotstar.
Audience in South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa will be able to watch South Africa vs Afghanistan World T20 live on SuperSport 2, with the online live stream option SuperSport Live Video
Willow TV and Willow TV Online are the places to be to watch the South Africa vs Afghanistan World T20 on TV and online in the US and Canada.
Sky Sports 2will broadcast the South Africa vs Afghanistan World T20 live in the UK , while the live stream option is on Watch Sky Sports.
Viewers in New Zealand can watch South Africa vs Afghanistan World T20 live on Sky Sport and Sky Go NZ.Fox Sportswill show the World T20 2016 match live in Australia, while the live streaming option is on Foxtel.
