There can be only one!

As unbeaten teams of the tournament, India and South Africa, clash today, who will snap their heartbreak streak?

And then there were two. After four weeks and 54 matches, it has come down to this. The champions of 2007, up against the first-time finalists, in a no-holds-barred tussle for the grandest prize in international T20 cricket. India have been an unstoppable force at the T20 World Cup, their 68-run semifinal destruction of defending champions England in Providence on Thursday the latest exhibition of their all-round strength. 

South Africa too have mounted a stirring campaign, unbeaten in eight matches. It’s in the fitness of things that the two best sides battle it out for top honours at the Kensington Oval on Saturday.

India skipper Rohit Sharma and South Africa captain Aiden Markram. Pics/Getty Images

Uncharted territory for SA

For the South Africans, this is uncharted territory. Since their return to the international fold in 1991, their men’s teams have been in various World Cup semi-finals, but it has taken them 33 years to break the last-four jinx. They have shown greater steel and strength of mind compared to more celebrated Protean outfits of the past, a credit to the Aiden Markram school of leadership that has left them on the cusp of history.

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India are familiar with the heartbreak of finals losses. Twice in the last 12 and a half months, they have made it to the title round—at the World Test Championship last June and the 50-over World Cup in November—and been subjugated by Australia on each occasion. Under Rohit Sharma, they have fused their inherent flair with commonsense and prudence; there is no reason to believe why Saturday can’t be the day when they end their long wait for an ICC trophy that now spans 13 years.

Man to man brilliance

After traversing the length and the breadth of the Caribbean for the past week for the Super Eights and the semi-finals, the teams are back at the scene of the 50-over World Cup final in 2007. India have played here once previously, against Afghanistan on June 20, and have adapted to vastly differing conditions with aplomb since then, but South Africa have been as ruthless during their march to the final. Almost every key player in the Indian side is matched by a competent equivalent in the opposition—Markram for Rohit Sharma, Kagiso Rabada for Jasprit Bumrah, Tabraiz Shamsi for Kuldeep Yadav, Quinton de Kock for Rishabh Pant, David Miller for Suryakumar Yadav.

There is no Virat Kohli equivalent within the South African ranks; perhaps that’s the spur the former skipper needs to end a horror run and haul his team past the finish line. Don’t bet against it.

6
No. of times India and SA have clashed against each other in T20 WC. The Indians have won four and lost twice to the Proteas

26
No. of T20Is India and South Africa have played against each other. India won 14, the Proteas emerged victorious 11 times, while one match was washed out

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