Finally! After a wait of 1 month, we have got the names of 2 teams who will be playing in the final of the 9th edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 at Kensington Stadium in Bridgetown. The Indian team will be their 3rd final in the history of the World Cup. Meanwhile, the South African team will be playing their first final of the ICC event in their cricketing history after reaching into the semi-finals 5 and 2 times respectively in ODI and T20 World Cups. It will be really interesting to see which team will emerge victorious and lift the coveted trophy of champions tomorrow as both teams have reached the finals remaining unbeaten in their respective groups.

India are entering into the marquee event after defeating Australia and England in the Qualifier 1 and Semi-final 2 of the tournament. Whereas, the Proteas team became the first team to qualify for the Semi-finals and Final by defeating West Indies and Afghanistan, respectively.

India vs South Africa, Head-to-head

It will be the very first time these 2 teams will be against each other in the Finals of an ICC event. However, talking about their T20I head-to-head, they have been against each other on 26 occasions out of which India managed to win 14 and Proteas won 11, whereas 1 was of no result.

Despite India leading in the above stats, we can't ignore the performance of the South African team, who are heading to their first final of an ICC event after reaching into the semi-finals 5 and 2 times in ODI and T20I, respectively. The Proteas team will definitely try hard to give a tough competition to the Men in Blue, who are playing their 2nd ICC World Cup final after 7 months when they lost to Australia, by 7 wickets at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Pitch report of Kensington Oval

The final match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and South Africa will be played at Kensington Oval,  in Barbados is expected to offer some seam movement to the new ball bowlers at the start of the match. This movement can make it challenging for the batsmen to settle in quickly. Fast bowlers can also expect to benefit from some extra bounce on this surface. Batsmen can expect a good bounce and carry, which ensures that the ball comes nicely onto the bat as the game progresses.

Despite the early challenges, the pitch in Barbados generally offers true pace and bounce once the game progresses. Batsmen who adjust to the conditions can play their shots with confidence. The Kensington Oval has hosted a total of 32 T20Is so far. 19 of these matches have been won by the team batting first, while 11 have been won by the team batting second. Two matches have ended as 'No Result'. 

India vs South Africa: Highest Wicket Takers

India’s right-arm leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has picked up the most T20I wickets (96) for his side after picking the most wickets in IPL history whereas, Chinamen Tabrez Shamshi has notched up 89 wickets in 69 matches.

India vs South Africa: Top Scorers

Rohit Sharma has scored 422 total runs in 158 T20I games and is leading the run-scoring charts for the Indian team, while Quinton de Kock has scored 2545 runs in 91 matches.

Probable Playing XIs

India

Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, MD. Siraj

South Africa

Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi

Who will win the match between India and South Africa?

After looking at the performance of both teams, it's really difficult to say which team will emerge victorious as both have remained unbeaten till now in the marquee event. However, South Africa will be heading into the finals for the first time so they will be under more pressure than the Indian team, who are playing their second final after a gap of 7 months.