South Africa and India will face each other in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 final on Saturday at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. On Friday evening, India thrashed England in the second semifinal at Guyana’s Providence Stadium. Meanwhile, South Africa advanced to their first ICC final after defeating Afghanistan by nine wickets in Trinidad.

South Africa and India: Face-offs in the ICC knockouts so far

With South Africa making their first ever Final, and India generally all over the place in tournaments, this will be their first encounter in a World Cup Final. The two sides did play in the 2014 T20 World Cup Semi-Final. With their golden generation line-up, South Africa fought well that evening. But a Virat Kohli special took India to the Final after a close encounter.

Unbeaten finalists

Probably. Both come in unbeaten. South Africa though have run things close in each of their games. But a champion side is known to win the big moments, which they have done well for a change. With both teams unbeaten, the winner here will achieve the feat of being the first side to win a T20 World Cup without losing a single game throughout the tournament.

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Journey so far for both teams in T20 World Cup 2024

India have won every game, with the only loss from the match against Canada. Impressive victories over Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Australia secured their place in the Super Eight knockout stages as Group 1 winners. They added to their excellent form with a thrashing victory over the reigning champions England in the semi-final.

South Africa have an unbeaten record at the tournament, but they have been pushed close several times in their seven matches, with the Netherlands, Bangladesh, and Nepal all coming close during the first group stage, and tournament hosts USA doing the same at the beginning of the Super Eights. They also won narrowly against England and the West Indies in the second stage. But Afghanistan won by nine wickets in the semi-final.

Weather: Will it rain?

The second semi-final between India and England was interrupted by rain throughout. There was also a high chance of the game being abandoned. The final between South Africa and India does not promise a totally clear day either. With a couple of showers and thunderstorms on the cards, rain is expected throughout the region.

Is there any reserve day?

Yes, the final includes a reserve day. The match will only be moved to Sunday if at least 10 overs each are not possible on Saturday. If the game is already underway, it will continue where it left off on Saturday rather than starting over. The reserve day begins at 10.30 a.m. local time, the same as match day. There will be some showers on Sunday as well, but the forecast for match hours is slightly better than what is expected overnight and later in the day.

What happens in case of a washout?

Although it would be disappointing if this highly anticipated match was canceled, India and South Africa would be declared joint winners. Meanwhile, the ICC has set aside 190 minutes, or three hours and ten minutes on both days.

South Africa vs India: T20 World Cup Full Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Ottneil Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Bjorn Fortuin, Ryan Rickelton