Australia and South Africa are two of the strongest teams in world cricket and whenever they play against each other a flurry of records ensues. Today both the teams will face each other for 2 points at Ekana stadium in Lucknow. It will be a delight to watch such big players playing against each other. Australia will go for the first win in this tournament and the south will try to continue their winning streak. Australia lost its first game against India in Chennai with 6 wickets and now Australian players will go for a comeback that’s what they’re known for. On the other hand South Africa is coming after a big record winning game against Sri Lanka in Dharamshala. We’ve seen South Africa making a record score against Sri Lanka and Markram hitting the fastest century in the history of the world cup, and Australia struggling to score 200 against India at Chepauk but that was a different batting condition and we know what Australian batters are capable of. Batters may find it hard to score runs in this Ekana’s bowler friendly surface but it will be interesting to see which batter will score most runs in the game and would be a headache for the fielding team.
David Warner
Australia’s aggressive opener is in peak form, he made 3 consecutive half centuries against India in 3 ODI matches bilateral series just before the world cup and in the last game he got a good start but unfortunately Kuldeep Yadav departed him just 9 runs prior to his fifty. His abilities to start innings explosively will help Australia to catch up in the game. In the last several innings Warner has been making a good start but has been unable to convert them into big innings but he is expert in doing this, so we may see a big inning from him that we are waiting for some time. Warner’s records against South Africa are immensely great, He is the highest scorer between the Australia vs South Africa in ODI format among active players he has played 28 games against the opponent where he scored 1213 runs with the average of 43.32, he scored 5 centuries and 5 half centuries as well. David Warner loves playing in Indian conditions, he has played 13 ODI matches in India where he made 616 runs with the average of 51.33 which is highest for him in any country where he played 10 or more ODI matches. Warner hasn’t played any ODI game in Lucknow but he truly understands the Indian batting condition. So he may score so many runs today but it would be hard against South Africa’s deadly bowling attack where pitch is also helpful for them.
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Quinton De Kock
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The South African opener is in great form, he made a beautiful century in the first game against Sri Lanka and he also has a lot of experience in playing Indian conditions. He has played 9 ODI games in India where he scored 477 runs with the average of 53.00. He plays for Lucknow SuperGiants in IPL which will help him a lot, he has played only one T20 game here and scored just 16 runs but he has an extra hand to understanding the environment of Ekana stadium. Quinton De Kock is one of the best players in the world and he is known for his aggressive approach as an opener. De Kock has played most ODI matches (28) against Australia and he is just 91 runs away from reaching 1000 runs against the opponent in this format. He enjoys batting against Australia and we may see another big inning by him in the tournament.
Heinrich Klaasen
Klaasen is scoring good runs in the middle order for South Africa and his ability to accelerate in the middle is helpful for his team to cement their foot in the game. He plays aggressively and that is his role to score fast in the middle. He is in good form, he got a good start against Sri Lanka but didn’t convert into a big inning but he has that ability to not get out while thrashing bowlers. He has played 11 ODI games against Australia with 507 runs along with the average of 62.75 which is the highest among three. He has scored 174 runs in 83 balls just before the world cup against the same opponent. He has the strike rate 123.64 against Australia which is also highest among active batters. If he gets a chance early in the game he could score a lot of runs and watching him bat is a pleasure for the eyes.
Also read Men’s ODI WC: Kusal Mendis taken to hospital after slamming century against Pakistan
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