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Australia will take on South Africa in Match 13 of the T20 World Cup 2021 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. The Group 1 encounter will kick off the Super 12 round of the ICC event.
The Aussies will not go into the match with a lot of confidence. Despite playing with a weakened team, their 1-4 losses during the T20I series’ in West Indies and Bangladesh would have hurt the side’s pride. Australia were unconvincing in the warm-up matches as well. They eked out a scratchy three-wicket win over New Zealand. However, India exposed their frailties and thumped them by eight wickets.
In comparison, South Africa were a lot more proficient in their practice encounters. They won both their matches, defeating Afghanistan by 41 runs and Pakistan by six wickets. Traditionally, Australia have had the wood over South Africa at ICC events. The current Proteas outfit would be confident of changing things around in Saturday’s encounter.
AUS vs SA - Today’s match playing 11s
AUS playing 11: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (w), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
SA playing 11: Quinton de Kock (w), Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi
AUS vs SA - Today's match opening batters list
Skipper Aaron Finch and David Warner will open the batting for Australia. Though hugely experienced, they do not have runs under their belt. Warner fell for 0 and 1 in the two warm-up games while Finch did slightly better, scoring 24 and 8.
Quinton de Kock will be one of the openers for South Africa. He made 7 and 6 in the practice games and would be keen to get his act together against the Aussies. The Proteas opened with skipper Temba Bavuma (31) against Afghanistan and Reeza Hendricks (7) against Pakistan. Bavuma will open against Australia.
AUS vs SA - Today's match pitch report
Observing the pitch, Sunil Gavaskar and Danny Morrison stated that the surface looked very good with even grass. The new-ball bowlers might get a bit of help at the start. The spinners might get bounce and get it to hurry.
AUS vs SA - Today’s T20 World Cup match umpires
On-field Umpires: Nitin Menon, Michael Gough
Third Umpire: Langton Rusere
Match Referee: Javagal Srinath
AUS vs SA T20 World Cup toss result for today's match
Australia have won the toss and have decided to bowl first. Explaining his decision to field, Australian captain Aaron Finch said:
“We would like to bowl first. Looks like a good wicket, can't see things changing a lot during the course of the game. We have a lot of experience in the side, we haven't played as a group, but we're looking forward to this tournament.”
Australia have left out Aston Agar, Kane Richardson, Josh Inglis and Mitch Swepson from their playing XI.
South Africa are going in with both their main spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi and an extra batter in Heinrich Klaasen.
