Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody feels South Africa should drop spinner Tabraiz Shamsi to make room for an extra pacer in the their playing XI for the T20 World Cup game against India. The Proteas take on India at the Optus Stadium in Perth, hoping to go ahead of the Rohit Sharma-led side in the points table. They have played two games so far, winning one, while the other was washed out due to rain. Moody pointed out that since the track in Perth offers extra pace and bounce, South Africa can exploit the Indian batters with an extra pacer.
"We have seen pace and bounce at Perth (Optus) Stadium. South Africa are a far better team with their pace attack. Shamsi is a terrific bowler, certainly nothing against him. But considering the balance of the team, and the game is against India, they should go with an extra pacer," Moody said during an interaction on ESPNCricinfo.
Notably, Team India's batting coach Vikram Rathour, on the eve of the game against South Africa, said that his side is not fazed by fast bowling.
"The group of batters that we have in our team, I don't think pace really bothers us that much," Rathour had said during a press conference.
Virat Kohli has led India's batting charge Down Under, hitting two fifties so far. He scored an unbeaten 82 against Pakistan, and followed up with a 62 not out against Netherlands.
While Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav also scored fifties against Netherland to give themselves some confidence, KL Rahul's form has been a concern for them.