Bridgetown (Barbados), June 29 (IANS): India won the toss and elected to bat first against South Africa in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 at the Kensington Oval on Saturday. This is the first instance of two unbeaten teams facing off in a Men’s T20 World Cup final.
Kensington Oval has hosted eight matches of this tournament, with teams batting first winning three games, while teams batting second have also emerged victorious three times. The last two matches at this venue have been won by teams chasing.
After winning the toss, India captain Rohit Sharma said they are fielding an unchanged playing eleven from their 68-run victory over England in the semifinal in Guyana.
“Looks like a good pitch. We've played one game here, and the scores have been really good. Just about understanding individual roles, I know it's a big occasion but it's important to remain calm and play it like it's another international game against a good team.”
“South Africa have played some good cricket but so have we. It's going to be a really good game between two quality teams. Different individuals have stepped up at different times and that's what we're looking forward to today as well.”
Saturday’s final will be played on the pitch which previously hosted two games in the tournament: England-Scotland clash was washed out due to rain, while the Oman-Namibia game was a low-scoring affair which went into a Super Over, where Namibia won.
South Africa skipper Aiden Markram said he would have preferred to bat first as well. “The pitch looks dry. But we get the first crack with the ball so hopefully we can do well. At times we haven't been at our best but we've still managed to win and we take confidence from that.”
“Perfect isn't possible but we want to be as close as possible to that. There's absolutely no pressure on us, we've never been in a final and we just want to enjoy it and be at our best.”
The two sides have met at the Men’s T20 World Cup on six occasions so far, with India winning four of those. The last time these two teams met in the Men’s T20 World Cup, South Africa won by five wickets at Perth.
India and South Africa have also faced off once in a Men’s T20 World Cup knockout match - the semifinal at Mirpur in 2014, where the MS Dhoni-led side won by six wickets. India are looking for its first T20 World Cup title since 2007, with a quest to win a global trophy running for over 11 years. South African men's side are making their first World Cup final appearance.
Playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (captain), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi