Prediction: T20 Triangular Final – New Zealand vs South Africa

The T20 triseries held in Zimbabwe will feature New Zealand and South Africa in the final. The Kiwis have been undefeated in the tournament, whereas the hosts never managed a win. The Proteas lost both their league stage matches against the Kiwis, once while chasing and once defending.

In the final match of the league stage, New Zealand posted the highest total of the tournament (190). A match before that, they chased down South Africa’s modest total of 134 with nearly four overs to spare. In both these matches, Tim Seifert was their architect-in-chief, striking 66(48) & 75(45). Jacob Duffy, Ish Sodhi, and Matt Henry haven’t even played all their league matches and yet they find themselves among the top five highest wicket-takers of the tournament.

Devon Conway didn’t have the best outing against the Proteas in either match. This makes the ‘Tims’, Seifert and Robinson as likely candidates for opening. Daryl Mitchell is likely to make the side, but it would be interesting to see who out of Mark Chapman, Bevon-John Jacobs, and Michael Bracewell will be rested. Ish Sodhi’s four-for against Zimbabwe makes him an important pick as a spinner to complement skipper Mitchell Santner. Additionally, they will be joined by the pace quadrant of Duffy, Henry, Rourkela, and Foulkes.

The league stage saw the Proteas assert their dominance only over the Chevrons, chasing down 140s in both the matches. However, against the Kiwis, apart from some decent spells from Kwena Maphaka and Senuran Muthusamy, none of their players have really made an impact. Rubin Hermann, who is the second highest run-scorer of the tournament has managed only eleven runs in two matches against the blackcaps. For the final, Lungi Ngidi will most likely be swapped for Nqaba Peter. However, the dilemma would be to choose one between Corbin Bosch and Andile Simelane. Rassie van der Dussen’s himself needs to step up alongside his batting contingent to counter a very strong Kiwi bowling line-up.