Australia have piled more emotional baggage on South Africa after the Proteas’ latest choke put all the pressure back on AB De Villiers’ side for Sunday’s World Twenty20 Super Eights clash with Australia.
Australia began their Super Eights campaign in ominous fashion on Friday night as Shane Watson claimed his third consecutive man-of-the-match award.
Watson (3-34) and 19-year-old paceman Pat Cummins (2-16) helped restrict India to 7-140 before Watson (72 off 42 balls) and David Warner (63 not out from 41 deliveries) spanked India’s bowlers all around Colombo’s Premadasa Stadium.
Warner and Watson shared a national-record partnership of 133 as Australia powered their way to 1-141 with 5.1 overs to spare.
Australia captain George Bailey says one more win against South Africa on Sunday (2000 AEST) or Pakistan on Tuesday should be enough to get his side into next week’s semi-finals, while the Proteas are playing for survival.
World No.1-ranked South Africa suffered a demoralising defeat on Friday night as Pakistan reached a target of 134 with two wickets and two balls to spare after being 7-76 with five overs remaining.
“Our situation hasn’t changed. You still need to win two out of three games in the Super Eights,” Bailey said of his side who have climbed to a world ranking of No.6.
“It was a great win but in terms of just where it sets us up for the tournament, it puts South Africa under pressure because they need to win the next two.
“We have that buffer but you don’t get an easy game in this competition.”
De Villiers spoke openly about South Africa’s inability to win world cups despite having strong lineups.
“It’s probably something that’s plagued us in the past but we’re in a different tournament,” he said.
“A lot of people would say we choked.
“We gave ourselves a chance to win the game tonight, we’re very happy with that.
“We’ll come back in the next two games and if we play good cricket we’ll win both of them and go into the semi-finals.
“There won’t be any choking then.”
A bruised foot suffered by Dale Steyn against Pakistan has further complicated South Africa’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals, although his skipper is confident of having his pace spearhead on the park for the do-or-die clash with Australia.
Bailey couldn’t be happier with the development of Cummins while Watson has been superb.
“The way he plays and the way Watto prepares, there’s no reason why he couldn’t (continue to dominate),” Bailey said.
“He’s set himself to be the man of the tournament, the person that leads Australia as far as he can in this tournament. When you see the way he plays this format of the game, he’s almost the complete cricketer.”
