South Africa's Dewald Brevis, known as 'Baby AB', aims to regain form in the T20 World Cup match against the United Arab Emirates, as South Africa look to fine-tune for the Super Eights.
Key Points
- South Africa have already qualified for the Super Eights in the T20 World Cup.
- Dewald Brevis, known as 'Baby AB', is looking to improve his form in the match against the UAE.
- The match provides UAE players an opportunity to face a strong South African bowling attack.
- Sohaib Khan will be key for UAE's batting line-up, aiming to continue his run-scoring form.
- South Africa may rest key fast bowlers like Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, giving chances to Nortje and Maphaka.
South Africa will expect big-hitting youngster Dewald Brevis to regain his form against a struggling United Arab Emirates in their inconsequential final Group D fixture of the T20 World Cup, in New Delhi, on Wednesday.
South Africa are already through to the Super Eights with three wins, including a double Super Over cliffhanger against Afghanistan and a comprehensive seven-wicket thumping of New Zealand.
For the UAE, it will be an opportunity to test their skills against the likes of Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, a bowling attack which they don't get to face often at the international level as most of the Proteas players ply their trade in SA20, which clashes with their ILT20.
For South Africa, the match against UAE will be an extended practice game in which they would look to bat first and make full use of a placid track on offer at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
In the top four, Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickleton have all got at least one half-century in the three games so far but Brevis, with scores of 6, 23 and 21, hasn't exactly displayed his full potential.
Dewald Brevis: The next big thing?
Known as 'Baby AB' for batting similarities with the great AB de Villiers, Brevis' propensity to play irresponsible shots in between flashes of brilliance has proved to be a hindrance in taking the leap to the next level.
Its is precisely for this reason that the 22-year-old is not yet considered on par with the likes of Shubman Gill, Harry Brook, and Yashasvi Jaiswal to name a few.
Even though the UAE attack doesn't even have bowlers with express pace, the belter at Kotla will give Brevis a chance to return to form before the big Super Eights game against India at Ahmedabad.
As far as changes in the playing eleven are concerned, it is unlikely that the batting set-up will be tinkered with but Markram might just want to rest his main fast bowlers Rabada and Ngidi, giving a chance to Anrich Nortje and teenager Kwena Maphaka.
UAE's key players
For UAE, the onus of scoring runs will be on former Jamia Milia Islamia student Sohaib Khan, who has already scored successive fifties in the tournament and has been their batting mainstay.
Skipper Muhammad Waseem and Alishan Sharafu are the other two batters on whom the Lalchand Rajput-coached side will like to depend for run-scoring.
Teams (from):
South Africa: Aiden Markram (captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ryan Rickleton, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, George Linde, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Corbin Bosch, Kwena Maphaka, Anrich Nortje, Donovan Ferreira, David Miller.
UAE: Muhammad Waseem (captain), Alishan Sharafu, Sohaib Khan, Syed Haidar (wk), Aryansh Sharma (wk), Mayank Kumar, Harshit Kaushik, Dhruv Parashar, Muhammad Farooq, Haider Ali, JUnaid Siddique, Muhammad Jawaduulah, Muhammad Arfan, Muhammad Rohid, Simranjeet Singh.
Match starts: 1100 IST
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