80 hours after locking horns against each other in the Rugby World Cup final, which was won by the Springboks, South Africa and New Zealand will face each other in a different and more famous sport at the MCA stadium, Pune, on the 1st of November. New Zealand will look to bounce back from two previous losses to Australia and India, while the Proteas would like to continue their dream run before entering the Semi-Finals.
South Africa
382, 399, 311, 428, 315, 416, 338, 370. These are the scores made by the South African team in their last 8 outings while batting first in ODIs & in the majority of these games, they had the same lineup of Temba, Quinny, Rvd, Markram, Klaasen, and Miller.
After struggling in this format for two consecutive years and finding it hard to qualify for the World Cup 2023, it seems that South Africa has finally put together a team with clear intent and visible strengths.
Coming off a thrilling win against Pakistan now they only need one more win to confirm the Semifinal spot and have a game left against Afghanistan later on but they surely won’t like to leave it for the end considering what happened last year in the T20 World Cup.
New Zealand
The script for Kiwis in this World Cup has been very similar to 2019. They started the tournament in style remaining undefeated for 4 games but seem to have lost the track in last 2 games, especially with their new ball bowling. Matt Henry & Trent Boult didn’t produce the same results against Australia & India as they did against Bangladesh, Netherlands & Afghanistan.
New Zealand slipped from 1st to 3rd on the points table and still needs 2 wins out of 3 games which include South Africa, Sri Lanka & Pakistan. If they lose more than one game out of 3 they will have to be dependent upon the other team’s results as well.
Probable Playing XIs
Kane Williamson injured his thumb against Bangladesh earlier this tournament. Though he was expected to make a return in the November phase of the tournament, New Zealand still won’t like to rush him into playing XI in such an important game of the tournament.
Spinners played an important role in India’s win against Bangladesh at this venue, hence New Zealand might include Ish Sodhi instead of a fast bowler for this match.
South Africa would like to include Kagiso Rabada in place of Lungi Ngidi if he’s available and fit.
New Zealand: Will Young, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (c & wk), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, Trent Boult.
South Africa: Quinton De Kock(wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie Van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee, Tabraiz Shamsi.
Venue/Pitch Report
Pune has so far hosted only one game in this World Cup. In India v/s Bangladesh game where Bangladesh got a good start but lost their way after the spin duo of Jadeja & Kuldeep was introduced into the attack. India didn’t find it any hard to chase down 257 with Kohli’s 100. So the pitch is expected to be good to bat with little help for spinners for that reason South Africa will have expectations from Tabraiz Shamsi to repeat what he did against Pakistan. If New Zealand brings in Ish Sodhi, he might turn out to be their trump card.
Players To Watch Out For
Rassie Van der Dussen
Having started his ODI Career in early 2019, Rassie was by far the best ODI batsman for South Africa for 3-4 consecutive years. He started 2023 in style with a century against England in January but has lost the track since. He averages in his mid-30s this year but has played 2 great innings in this World Cup.
Majorly, he has struggled to rotate the strike in middle overs. Although spinners are expected to get some help from the venue, the pitch may remain batting-friendly for the most part.
Given all these shortcomings and question marks around his game, he will be gutted to prove a point and make an impact in this big game.
Trent Boult
Arguably the best new ball bowler of this generation across formats Boult has always had an upper hand against South Africa in this format. During the last 3 ODI World Cups South Africa was knocked out after suffering a defeat from the hands of New Zealand & Trent Boult gave the Blackcaps a good start with bowl in 2 of them.
Boult has dismissed South Africa’s opener Quinton De Kock 5 times in One Day internationals for just 68 runs. Batting has been a strength for South Africa, they lay down a platform in the first 30 overs and then explode like no one else in the last 20 to finish with a very above-par score. Trent Boult’s opening spell will have a huge impact on this match’s result.
NZ vs SA Dream11 Team for Match 32 of 2023 WC
Note: This is not our final Dream11 Team as we are not aware of the Toss Result/Final Playing XI of both teams at this moment.
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