ICC World Cup 2019, West Indies vs South Africa: Key battles to watch out for

After a narrow defeat of 15 runs in their second match, against Australia, West Indies will look to bounce back again in the ICC World Cup 2019 when they take on South Africa at the Rose Bowl Cricket Ground on June 10 (Monday). Yet again West Indies bowlers put a clinical show in the tournament as their deadly pacers ran a riot against the Aussies top-order. However, Steve Smith and Nathan Coulter-Nile’s gritty knock of 73 and 92 runs, respectively anchored Australia’s innings to a defendable total of 288 runs. While chasing, Jason Holder and Co. faced a 15-run defeat amid some umpiring blunders.

On the other hand, the Proteas batsmen yet again failed to deliver, getting restricted on a total of 227 for 9, lost their third match in the tournament against India by 6 wickets. They are having an awful campaign as they faced some injury setbacks also, in the form of their key frontline bowlers.

Let’s have a look at the key battles to watch out for the 15th match between West Indies and South Africa in Southampton on June 10:

1.Chris Gayle vs Kagiso Rabada:

South Africa’s pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada lived up to the expectations as he led the team to gave a tough fight against India in their previous game while defending the total of 228 runs and finished the match with the figures of 3/39 in his 10 overs. However, he couldn’t convert it to the victory, lost the match by 6 wickets. On the other hand, Chris Gayle had to face some unlucky umpiring decisions and got dismissed on a free-hit delivery, which umpire didn’t notice that the previous ball, bowled was actually a no-ball. And, as a result, the Windies faced a defeat. However, the southpaw has been in a sensational form and will look to express himself fully against the danger man Rabada.

2. Andre Russell vs Imran Tahir:

It is going to be a battle between the match-winners Andre Russell and Imran Tahir, of their respective teams. We saw an enthralling contest between these two in IPL 2019, earlier this year and is expected to be the same kind of contest in the marquee tournament as well. It would be interesting to see with what tactics Tahir will square off against the fiery Russell, who is the key all-rounder for Holder’s men in the tournament. Will it be Tahir’s or Russell’s game on Monday? Well, stay tuned for it.

3. Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla vs Sheldon Cottrell:

The Proteas batting line-up hasn’t got much depth in the batting line-up as everything gets dependent on their top-order batsmen and in order to score big, South Africa openers Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla need to step-up and lay a strong foundation for the team. But, against them, it is the deadly Carribean pace attack, which consists of Sheldon Cottrell, who is having a good run of form in the tournament and has been producing early breakthroughs for the team. The openers will have to be wary of him as it is again expected to be a bowlers game and the speedster will be looking to exploit the conditions at the Rose Bowl Cricket ground.