by Revata S. Silva
After a poor show in the Morocco Cup tournament last month and in the subsequent match against the relatively moderate Windies attack in Sri Lanka where they salvaged a ‘miraculous’ final over win, South Africa will face today the upbeating ‘Bharath’ challenge at the first day/night semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy at the R. Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo.

India who found their feet in the international game from recent times especially after a historic win in the ‘fairy-tale-like’ Natwest final at Lords last August are undoubtedly the firm favourites today and a win by the Proteas on the other hand will earn the ‘upset’ tag for sure.

India’s two impressive wins against Zimbabwe and England in the tournament’s pool games sealed them as a force that can take away the coveted trophy they could not win when they lost the final of the last ICC trophy against the Kiwis in Kenya.

The remarkable form of the Indian top and middle order these days is not a good news for any opposition. Their centurions in this tourney include skipper Saurav Ganguly, Virenda Sehwag (117 n.o. and 126 respectively against England that created a record-breaking 192 runs in 176 balls for the first wicket) and Mohammed Kaif (111 n.o. against Zimbabwe). Rahul Dravid scored 71 in the game against Zimbabwe and Zaheer Khan (45/4 against Zimbabwe) along with Ashish Nehra (49/2 against England) will be in lethal form with the new ball.

The winner today will meet either Australia or Sri Lanka in Sunday’s final. Second semi-final will be on next Friday.

Squads:

India (from): Saurav Ganguly (Cap.), Sachin Tendulkar, Virenda Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mahammed Kaif, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Ajith Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Vangipurappu Laxman and Prakash Yadev.

South Africa (from) : Shaun Pollock (Cap.), Mark Boucher, Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Jaques Kallis, Dale Benkenstine, Nicky Boje, Lance Klusener, Jonty Rhodes, Graem Smith, Alan Donnald, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong and Allan Dowson.