Welcome to Sportstar‘s LIVE coverage of the T20 World Cup 2021 match between Australia and South Africa at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

SA 101/8 in 18 overs: OUT! Markram departs and with that any glimmer of hope for the Proteas. Full on the pad and Markram looks to flick it over midwicket for a boundary but finds the fielder. Nortje joins Rabada at the crease. Good running as Nortje converts a single into two. Hundred up for South Africa!

SA 98/7 in 17 overs: Markram looks to crank up the pace. SIX! Cummins dispatched with an audacious pull by Markram over midwicket. Stand and deliver. FOUR! This time Rabada looks to shift gears. Shuffles slightly to swat it down the ground to the boundary.

SA 86/7 in 16 overs: Zampa bowls out, giving away just three in his final over. Keeps a tight off stump length.

SA 83/7 in 15 overs: Nothing seems to be going right for South Africa as Maharaj departs for nought after a run out. He wants an extra off the overthrow and Markram isn’t even looking. A comedy of errors. Just one comes off the Cummins over as Rabada joins Markram and is greeted by a bouncer. A mandatory concussion check follows and he is cleared to continue.

SA 82/6 in 14 overs: Zampa with the ball. Loud appeal for LBW and Miller is given out. The DRS confirms no bat involved. OUT! Three reds and it is as plumb as an LBW gets. Pretorius gets the googly first up. Plays close to his stumps and gets the edge in time to steal a single. Markram takes a single. OUT!  Pretorius looks to cut too close to the body again and gets the edge this time as Wade pockets it sharply behind the stumps.

SA 77/4 in 13 overs: Hazlewood to bowl his third. Umpire review for a run out and Miller makes his ground with ease. Another tight run taken by Miller after nudging it just in front of short cover. Whipped off the pads to backward square leg and run hard by the batters to collect a couple.

SA 71/4 in 12 overs: Maxwell to bowl out. The pressure was building with just four coming off the first five balls. Maxwell erred in line in the last and Markram made the most of it. Goes deep in his crease to cut it square in front of point.

SA 63/4 in 11 overs: Zampa from the other end. Miller and Markram nudge the ball around to collect four from the over.

SA 59/4 in 10 overs: Maxwell into his third as left-handed Miller is on strike. Punched off the backfoot for a couple past mid-on. Maxwell keeps it tight with just five from the over.

SA 54/4 in 9 overs: Starc is back after an expensive first over. FOUR! Misses his line slightly and Markram dabs it wide of mid-off for a boundary. Lethal yorker to end the over.

SA 46/4 in 8 overs: Cummins continues. FOUR! Over-pitched and Klaasen drives past mid-off for a boundary. Flicked off the pads for one. OUT! Klaasen departs. Full on the stumps and Klaasen gets the leading edge and a great diving forward catch at point.

SA 39/3 in 7 overs: Legspinner Zampa to bowl. On the pads first ball and Klaasen gets a single. Great shot. Cut square off the backfoot by Markram and Cummins pulls in a spectacular dive on the boundary to save one for the team. FOUR! Tossed up and Klaasen hammers it to the deep square leg boundary.

SA 29/3 in 6 overs: Cummins introduced into the attack. On the money straightaway and angles the ball in to Markram. An LBW appeal as Markram shuffles to the off and looks to play fine and misses. FOUR! Stands tall and drives between point and cover. Klaasen off the mark with a single straight of the wicket.

SA 23/3 in 5 overs: Hazlewood on fire. OUT! Gets de Kock first ball of his second over. Unlucky dismissal. He swivelled to flick it behind to fine leg but got the top edge and the ball looped and landed on the stumps…almost in slow-motion. Klaasen is in and has some repair work to do. Five dots on the trot and a wicket-maiden.

SA 23/2 in 4 overs: Maxwell continues. Just one comes off the first three. FOUR! de Kock pulls a short one for four. Reverse-sweeps to get a single off the last and retain strike.

SA 17/2 in 3 overs: Hazlewood replaces Starc. OUT! First ball wicket for Josh. van de Dussen edges it to the keeper trying to nudge at one in the off-side channel area. The assistance off the surface for the quicks early on is showing. Markram joins de Kock. Edges it past the slip cordon for one to get his first run. Four dots to end the over. One run and a wicket from it.

SA 16/1 in 2 overs: Maxwell to bowl spin with the new ball. Bavuma works it down mid-on for a single. de Kock gets off the mark with a nudge off the backfoot. OUT! Maxwell strikes. The ball keeps straight and Bavuma misses a straight one. It kept slightly low and the skipper was found deep in his crease with little footwork. van de Dussen is the new man in. Three singles to end the over.

SA 11/0 in 1 over: Mitchell Starc with the new ball to skipper Bavuma first up. Beautifully timed through cover for a couple of runs on the first ball. FOUR! Little bit of width and Bavuma pounces on it with a cover drive. Exquisite timing again. FOUR! Pitched up and Bavuma plays it slightly squarer past point. Edge down third for a single. de Kock on strike to face his first ball. Plays it straight to cover for a dot. 

Both teams take the knee before getting proceedings underway.

The teams are marching onto the field, led by their captains, and they assemble for the national anthems. Both teams will be giving raring to go in their bid for a maiden T20 World Cup title.

Australia has eventually opted for the lone specialist spinner in Zampa and Maxwell will be expected to fill in some overs. Stoinis will add to Australia’s bowling depth with his medium pace.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s batting looks rock solid but bowling options seem to be a concern. Pretorius will effectively have to bowl his quota of four overs and we may even see Markram rolling his bowling arm over in case one of the bowlers has an off-day.

Australia Playing XI: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Steven Smith, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

South Africa Playing XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi.

Australia captain Finch walks onto the field. Glenn Maxwell was seen practising the reverse-sweep on the sidelines, so some inventive 360-degree strokeplay is in the offing.

Pitch report: It’s a warm day in Abu Dhabi, no surprises there. The grass is even and the bowlers can expect some purchase off the pitch upfront.

South Africa heads into the fixture in red-hot form

NUMBERS GAME

Australia holds a 3-2 edge in the last five meetings between the sides.

Head-to-head stats

The two teams have met only once earlier in the tournament in 2012. Australia had won that outing in Colombo by eight wickets.

In other Twenty20 international games, the Aussies enjoy a win ratio of 13-8 over the Proteas. One of their 22 contests had ended up getting abandoned.

Key players in AUS vs SA/SA vs AUS

With 457 runs, Australia’s burly opener David Warner boasts incredible batting stats against South Africa. He is followed by Quinton de Kock (351) and Aaron Finch (295).

Meanwhile, Finch’s deputy Pat Cummins has the most wickets against the South Africans – 12. Ashton Agar (9) and Imran Tahir (8) are the second and third most successful bowlers respectively.

PREDICTED XI

Australia: David Warner, Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi

ALSO READ: AUS vs SA, T20 World Cup 2021 LIVE Updates: Playing XI Prediction, Dream11 fantasy team, Where to watch today’s T20WC Super 12 match

MATCH PREVIEW

Australia will hope its out-of-form top order fires from the word go when it opens its T20 World Cup campaign against South Africa in a Super 12 Group 1 match here on Saturday.

Australia, searching for its maiden T20 title, enters the tournament on the back of a horrific run, having lost bilateral series to Bangladesh, West Indies, New Zealand, India and England. Many first-choice team members skipped the recent white-ball tours during which Australia managed to win just five and lost 13 matches. Most of their players, therefore, have had scant preparation.

South Africa, on the other hand, will enter the clash high on spirits and in form, having emerged victorious in three consecutive series against defending champion West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka and both the practice games.

Having gone through a revival, the squad doesn’t boast of superstars like the previous Proteas sides and hence expectations to win the tournament are low, removing the massive burden of pressure that usually casts a shadow on the team in every ICC tournament.

(Via PTI)

FULL PREVIEW: T20 World Cup: South Africa test first up for out-of-form Australia

SQUADS:

Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Pat Cummins (vc), Ashton Agar, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade (wk), David Warner, Adam Zampa

Reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Keshav Maharaj, Quinton de Kock (wk), Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen

Reserves: George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lizaad Williams

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