Australia vs South Africa T20I series: 3 Aussies to watch out for
Australia will take on South Africa in a three-match T20I series starting from 21st February 2020. This will be the first T20I series for the Kangaroos in 2020, and this series will effectively start the countdown for the World T20 to be held Down Under in October.
The Australian team boasts of several match winners who can change the fortunes of their side in a jiffy. South Africa will be posed with a steep challenge when they take on the Aussies. In this article, let us look at three Australian players to watch out for in the T20I series.
#3 Aaron Finch
He is one of the cleanest hitters of the white ball in modern day cricket. Aaron Finch possesses tremendous power and hand eye co-ordination and is a batsman who can decimate any bowling attack on his day. He is the second highest run scorer for Australia in T20 cricket, and his whopping strike rate of 156.50 is proof enough that the Aussie skipper is a huge threat for the opposition once he gets going.
In his last T20 series in 2019 against Pakistan, Finch was at his destructive best. He smashed a whirlwind 16-ball 37* in the first T20, and also scored 52* off just 36 balls in the third T20I. If South Africa do not find a way to stop this batting powerhouse, they will have a lot of headaches to deal with in the upcoming T20I series.
#2 Pat Cummins
Along with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins will lead the Australian bowling attack in the T20I series against South Africa. He is blessed with very good pace, and also has the ability to move the ball both ways.
Cummins was in stellar form during the 2019 World Cup, picking up 14 wickets at an economy of under five runs an over. In T20 cricket as well, Cummins was in good form with the ball during most of 2019. The lanky speedster had an excellent bowling average of 19.11, and conceded just 6.62 runs an over during all the T20Is that he played in 2019.
Cummins can also use his height to get extra bounce off the deck in South African pitches and if the South African batsman do not handle Cummins with caution, he can rip through the batting order and turn the tables in favour of the Australians.
#1 David Warner
Partnering Finch at the top of the order is the mercurial David Warner, The stocky left hander is the only Aussie batsman to have scored over 2000 runs in T20 cricket. Warner’s ability to read the length in a jiffy coupled with his fearless attitude makes him a nightmare for the opposition once he gets going.
Warner has been in stellar form since his return from the ‘sandpaper gate’ scandal. Let us throw in a stat that is mind boggling and unbelievable. Warner averaged a stunning 287.00 in the year 2019 in T20 cricket. In the six innings that he played in 2019, Warner scored a hundred and two fifties, and was dismissed just once in the whole year.
Also in the 2019 World Cup, Warner scored three hundreds and aggregated a whopping 647 runs at an average of 71.89. And, in the recent ODI series against India, Warner scored a whirlwind 128* and smashed the Indian bowlers all around the park. South Africa will run into a man who is in prime form in the upcoming T20I series.
Also read - South Africa vs Australia 2020 | T20I & ODI series: Live streaming, telecast details, fixtures, and squads