Shakib Al Hasan set to miss Pakistan T20 series, Nurul Hasan likely to come back

ENG vs SA | Temba Bavuma urges Proteas to find 'extra five per cent' to sail through to semi-finals

South Africa were not among favorites to qualify for the semi-finals as they were stacked in a group that appeared tough to overcome from the outset. However, they were the side in form and their resilience and ability to soak pressure while delivering in crunch situations have driven them to the verge of qualifying for the final four. They started impressively against Australia but their in-form bowling attack could not limit the damage of batsmen’ failures and they suffered a defeat. Now, they face a big last game against the best team of the tournament—England and they are pushed against the wall to win the game while maintaining a steady run rate better than Australia. Considering what is at stake for the Proteas, their skipper Temba Bavuma wants his side to find ways to produce “extra five per cent in all our departments” in order to have their noses in front of the Australians. Australia are slated to play West Indies in the first game of the day and Bavuma emphasized that having the result of that game in front of them before turning up against England will be an advantage for the Proteas. He said that it will give them proper understanding of the situation and how should they go about it "We want to play our best cricket tomorrow. It's just to find a way to add an extra five per cent in all our departments. It'll just be us trying to find a way to improve in every department. I think the bowling has been really good. The fielding, as well, has been really good. The batting, as well. But let's just find a way to just improve in every department of our game," Bavuma said. "What's happening with Australia-West Indies, what helps us is that their game happens before our game, so we'll kind of get a better sense or understanding as to how we need to approach the England game," Bavuma said. "If Australia win, then it's going to come down to net run rate. We'll have an opportunity somewhere along our game to control our net run rate or alter our approach." South Africa have come this far in the tournament purely on the basis of team performance. They have found batting heroes in Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller at different times while the bowling attack consisting of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj have been in the batsmen’s mind repeatedly. Bavuma also highlighted that adapting to slower and lower conditions at Sharjah will be a key element that will pave the way for their success in the game. Proteas are coming in from Abu Dhabi having played their last game at the pitch that aided fast bowling and Rabada ripped through the Bangladesh batting order. The conditions at Sharjah is expected to be completely different and the Proteas will have to be at their best in adapting to the new conditions. "Every game we speak about going out and fighting it out as a team. We don't leave it to individuals," Bavuma said. "We don't rely on individual brilliance to bring it home for the team, but it's all about us as a team giving everything that we've got. Tomorrow it won't be any different. We'll still be showing the same character, the same fight that we've shown while in this tournament." "We've had guy like Rassie van der Dussen go in earlier because we know if he has the opportunity to face a considerable amount of balls, he's a guy that can really put a bowling attack under pressure. You have a guy like Reeza Hendricks, as well, who's come off good recent form at the top of the order. So trying to utilise that form at its best. For me it's just playing the conditions really. We know within our batting side we need someone to kind of hold things on one end to allow all our big hitters, if I could say, to get into the game. But that's what we've seen has worked at this World Cup. That's not to say going forward that's going to be our strategy, but for now, that's what we feel is best." "We knew that the wicket would be on the low side. With the batting, we did take it quite deep, and I guess the learning from that is I guess maybe we'll have to pull the trigger a bit earlier," he said.

T20 World Cup | ENG vs SA: Proteas vie to end Chokesrs tag as they face English challenge for semis spot

The South African team is on the verge of qualifying for their fourth semi-final in the T20 World Cups. But between them and that elusive moment which might take them to their first-ever final too, which has been the aim of this Temba Bavuma led team, which has slipped up only once in this tournament so far, is the table-toppers England. To get to final South Africa would not only have to circumvent England but also go through what is now commonly known as the battle of the net run rate against Australia. Among all this, the only good thing is that Australia play the West Indies fort in the afternoon affair on the very same day and hence the Proteas would know exactly what they have to do to get through. What's at stake? On a very genuine note, for South Africa, everything is at stake. From fighting the battle against racism on the field, among the team (Quinton de Kock case) and back home through the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) trials going on under newly restructured Cricket South Africa, the only thing that has held the cricket fans of the rainbow nation together is the fact that their team has fought valiantly and still vying for a place in the semi-finals of the biggest event of the shortest format of the game. Thus South Africa could get inspiration from the fact that this current squad is the binding force between the sport and the fans and can play against England the table toppers with a form and aggression that is never seen before. The one thing that they would pray for, which is also not in their hands is that if Australia wins, it should not win big. For England, it is yet another opportunity to stamp authority and show that they are the team to beat in this tournament and can do nothing wrong. In all the games, someone or the other has done brilliantly well for England and they have managed to get through, even in their toughest clash, which was against Sri Lanka. So they would look to go on the same way and tey and end enter the semi-finals on the back of a superb win. What needs to change? For South Africa, there s hardly anything that they would like to change apart from Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen getting their form back. Both these have been crucial players coming into this World Cup, but haven’t really fired according to their potential. In what is going to be the game of their career so far, if the two could really up the ante, then there would be nothing more like it. For England, the team would be missing Tymal Millas and thus it would be a great opportunity to test Mark Wood before the semi-finals. They would like Wood to perform well so that they are not in any sort of trouble and are not going into the semis with an unsettled bowling lineup. England vs South Africa: Match Details Match Number - 39 Date and Time: November 06, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 06:00 pm Local, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah Broadcast and Livestream: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report The pitch at Sharjah would be shiny in terms of looks like it has been for quite a while now, but it would act as a facade as the wicket would be low and slow as usual and anything above the range of 150 would be hard to chase on that wicket. Weather Forecast The temperature at the stadium will fall from 29-degree Celsius at 06:00 pm to 26-degree Celsius by 10:00 pm and similarly, the humidity will increase from 57% to 68%. A light breeze is expected and there are very limited chances of precipitation as well, which is a very rare phenomenon in Sharjah. But since there would definitely be some dew, any team winning the toss would look to field first even though chasing has been a troublesome task on this wicket. Team News England As far as England are concerned, the only change in the playing XI will be a forced one because of Mills’ unfortunate injury. Probable XI Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood South Africa South Africa would look t go with the same XI and utilise the overs of Markram and Pretorious carefully. Probable XI Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi CE XI Fantasy team Wicketkeepers Jos Buttler, Batters Temba Bavuma, David Miller, Eoin Morgan All-rounders Aiden Markram, Dwaine Pretorius, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali Bowlers Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Adil Rashid Vice-Captain Aiden Markram, Captain Jos Buttler

T20 World Cup | IND vs SCO: 'Dominant' India ease past Scotland but semi-final spot still in jeopardy

The permutations and combinations might still be in play but India unleashed an all-round display of cricket against Scotland on Friday in Dubai. The Men in Blue just took 6.3 overs to chase down a target of 86 runs. The day started off well for India as well as for the birthday boy Virat Kohli who won the toss and elected to field first. The Indian bowlers responded well to the captain’s decision and never let the Scotland batsmen take an upper hand in the match. Jasprit Bumrah cleaned up captain Coetzer for just one run in the third over while Munsey who had started to cut loose was undone for a 19-ball 24 by Mohammed Shami after he was caught by Hardik Pandya. The wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals and Scotland were left tottering at 63/6 to eventually bundled out for 85. Bumrah, Shami and Ravindra Jadeja rattled the opponents. Shami returned with figures of 3/15 in three overs while Jadeja also scalped a three-for at the cost of 15 runs in 4 overs. Bumrah on the other side, had a couple of wickets to his name for 10 runs in 3.4 overs. Later, India openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma unveiled an onslaught against the Scotland bowlers and put up a partnership of 70 runs in just five overs before Rohit departed for 30 off 16. Rahul went on to complete a half-century in just 18 deliveries but he was eventually sent back in the hut by Mark Watt for a 19-ball 50 but captain Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav took the team over the line to win it for India by 8 wickets in just 6.3 overs. India have now moved on to the third spot on the basis of a better NRR than Afghanistan. India captain Virat Kohli hailed his side’s “dominating” performance. “A dominating performance, something that we were striving to do again. Now it will be interesting to see what happens on 7th (November). Don't want to say a lot about today's performance, we know what we can do. Also tells you how important the toss can be at this venue. We wanted to get them under 110-120 max, that was the mindset we went in with. The bowlers were excellent, and then KL and Rohit did really well,” he said in the post-match presentation. India will now play Namibia on Monday in Dubai while Scotland will play against Pakistan on Sunday in Sharjah.

Twitter goes berserk as KL Rahul hits fastest fifty in T20 World Cup 2021 to anchor India to victory

It was a classy day for the Indian cricket team in Dubai as they ticked all boxes with bat and ball and won the match against Scotland, chasing the target of 86 in just 38 balls, when they needed to chase it down in less than 43 balls. The chase now means that the Indian team has got over Afghanistan and New Zealand in the net-run rate scenario, giving themselves a chance to qualify for the semi-finals when and if Afghanistan beat New Zealand in their last Super 12 match on November 07. To get the chase done, it was KL Rahul with his classic knock that got the ball rolling. It wasn’t just classic, but it was something that has never been seen before from Rahul in international cricket at such a big stage. He hit the fifty in just 18 balls, the fastest in this year’s T20 World Cup and the second fasted in any T20 World Cup for an Indian, the fastest is with Yuvraj Singh who hit it in 12 balls against England. In his knock of 50 runs, the 29-year-old hit six fours and three sixes, before being undone by Mark Watt. As an opening partnership with Rohit Sharma, he added 70 for the first wicket in just 30 balls. India’s 82 is now also the highest total in the powerplay in this World Cup. After this game, India would now move to play against Namibia on Monday, November 08.