South Africa’s hopes in the WTC have taken an interesting twist in this cycle of the championship. With only one win in their first five outings and lying at the lowest of the order in terms of the points gained table, the Protes blazed to a high as they went on a five-match winning spree, which also saw them blanking Sri Lanka in the just concluded series. This revival has seen them anchor the WTC points list with 63.33% as they extended their dominance at St George’s Park in Gqeberha.
South Africa won the second Test by 109 runs on Monday after Keshav Maharaj took five wickets from the Sri Lankan lower order. It has effectively slated the WTC final at Lord’s in June of the following year without much hindrance. That will confirm their place, and South Africa has only two more matches in the series against Pakistan, which will start later this month at Centurion.
They are still fighting for it, but their positions are not certain. If the SA team is subjected to a whitewash at the hands of Pakistan, then the door will be opened for other teams all over again. At present, India and Australia are still in contention in the series, but for Sri Lanka, there is only an outside bet for a spot in the finals. For Sri Lanka to qualify, they must defeat Australia comprehensively in the impending two-Test series on Australia soil.
On the Indian side, there are increasing expectations from head coach Gautam Gambhir and team captain Rohit Sharma. India can afford only one draw if they have to qualify for the final without depending on the other teams’ performances in the series being played between India and Australia. A win by a 2-1 margin will indeed put the Australian cricket team in a precarious situation, but they can go through if they thrash the Sri Lankan cricket team badly. In the event that the Border-Gavaskar series is tied 2-2, then India will be available for qualification if Sri Lanka defeats Australia 2-0 or if Sri Lanka ties Australia in its two tests consecutively.
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