A T20 World Cup final, after 54 battle-hardened games, logistical issues, tryst with testing conditions, variety of surfaces across the Caribbean and the USA, two teams have survived the wrath of the T20 format and its fickle nature and the structure and the chaos of the World Cup to be there at the end, having the opportunity to lift the title. India and South Africa, the only two unbeaten sides in the tournament will be up against each other and many would say, being the best sides in the competition, it's a fitting finale.
That statement is half-truth. Yes, the two teams have been unbeaten but despite that fact, both have had starkly different campaigns with respect to the nature of victories and performances. South Africa have had those 1-run, 4-run and 7-run wins and they have been lucky in that regard. Maybe, they deserved that rub of green to go their way a bit after umpteen heartbreaks in crunch situations in the ICC events and come the semi-final, the Proteas really flexed their muscles. And it was a proper flex from their bowling might.
That is the other 50 per cent truth, the quality of the bowling attacks in the two outfits. They match man to man, bowler to bowler, maybe a bit more zip in the pact attack for South Africa and a little more bite in the spin trio for India. But, safely these are the two best bowling attacks assembled in the ongoing T20 World Cup and hence, the finale could come down to which side bats better. The Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados generally allows the batters to play on the up and through the line, which not many surfaces in the Caribbean can boast of the same. Thus, the top-order for both teams, which hasn't really been firing for either, would fancy its chances to put their respective team ahead with the bat.
"He is probably saving it for the finals", "I don't want to jinx it but I think, he has something special in store" - these were the words of Indian captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid respectively on Virat Kohli, who has aggregated just 75 runs in 7 innings. Maybe it was meant to be for Kohli that in several matches and probably whole tournaments on a couple of occasions, when he was firing on all cylinders his team fell short and now he might end up getting a trophy in his lap without doing much. However, the player Kohli is, he himself would be frustrated with the returns he has had in this tournament as he continues to fight the strike rate vs playing long battle.
A tentative Kohli against Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada in the form they are in might just be what the doctor ordered for the Proteas and how that plays out might go a long way in deciding which way the result is going. South Africa too have had their struggles with the lack of form for one of their openers but they will be glad to see Reeza Hendricks going unbeaten in the semi-final and similarly for skipper Aiden Markram, who has been terrific as a captain on the field with his tactics but has been short of runs with the bat. Bumrah, Arshdeep and then the spin trio against the likes of Heinrich Klaasen, Tristan Stubbs and David Miller, that's probably where the match could be won or lost for the first-time finalists given how good all three are against spinners and the quality of Kuldeep and Axar Patel will definitely test them.
As a neutral keeping all the factors in mind, you'd want to call it 50-50 and that no team has a real advantage over the other but India the way they have played are marginally ahead of their opponents. But South Africa will be aware of India's record in the finals recently and how the big occasion has gotten to them five times in the last decade and hence there lies an opportunity to do what no South African men's team before them could do and no other team in the T20 World Cup could do, win the title by staying unbeaten.
Is this their year? Who knows, but this is far from a South Africa team with a 'c' tag and India will have to be ready for a rumble if they have to end the trophy drought. A crackerjack of a contest on the hands.
