“Where India is slightly ahead of South Africa is …” - Former South African batter opens up on INDvSA clash

Former South African batter Neil McKenzie has stated that India will have home ground advantage, but at the same time, South Africa has been playing in Ahmedabad for the last couple of weeks, acclimatising to the conditions.

Notably, India will lock horns with South Africa in their first clash of the Super8 round at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, February 28, after remaining unbeaten in their respective groups in the group stage. 

So, for one box, India will obviously have home ground advantage. South Africa will be thinking, well, we’ve been here for the last couple of weeks. We know the venue really well. So that might cancel out,” Neil McKenzie said as quoted by the Indian Express. 

Furthermore, the former batter reckoned that India is slightly ahead in their spin department, thanks to their variations. However, he added that it wouldn’t make a huge difference when the two sides meet against each other.

“Where India is slightly ahead of South Africa is that they’ve got a lot more variation in the spin department. But I don’t see that as being huge. It’s obviously a huge positive because you have all the variations, but it’s how you deploy them,” he opined.

“Markram is more than a useful off-spinner. Also, with the left-handers, you’ve got Lungi Ngidi who can bowl in the up front one or two, and then in the middle and the one at the back end. And his favourite ball is the slow ball into the wicket. So, he is basically taking away from the left-handers as well. So, they have got a lot of tools that they can use,” McKenzie concluded.

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