What Second semi-final of the ICC World Twenty20, 2014 When Friday, April 4, (13:00 GMT | 19:00 Local | 198:30 IST) Where Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur The Teams India Undefeated in the league stage, India have emerged firm favourites in the tournament. Besides a few fumbles in the field, Dhoni’s men have been rather clinical as a unit with bat and ball. Despite the winning streak, there were a couple of concerns the Indian supporters had. First, that India’s successful strategy of chasing would backfire if the captain doesn’t call the toss right. While the 73-run win against the Aussies would have reduced that concern, it wouldn’t be fair to expect the Indian spinners to shoot the opposition out below 100 in the big games. The second worry was the relative lack of exposure of India’s middle-order batsmen and the famine of runs from Yuvraj Singh’s bat. Both those issues seem to have been summoned and solved. Yuvraj’s 60 (off 43 balls) came at the perfect time, given what a big-match player he is. It remains to be seen, however, if he plays the match, after suffering a minor injury while playing football during a training session. As for the team composition, expect Mohit Sharma to make way for Mohammad Shami. It will be interesting to see if Shikhar Dhawan is called back to open or Ajinkya Rahane retains his place. If Yuvraj misses out, Rahane could bat in the middle-order. South Africa The Proteas have had a rather thrilling tournament, filled with matches that have been nothing short of humdingers. Of the four matches involving South Africa, six runs (win over Netherlands) has been the largest margin of result. Besides the fact that both are crack teams, India and South Africa’s contrasting strengths makes this battle even more drool-worthy. While the Indian bowling attack is shouldered by their spinners, pace fires the Saffers. The Indians like to chase, the Proteas like to set targets and defend them – they won all three matches in which they batted first. Key Players India The spinners have been the heroes of India’s yet unbeaten sojourn in the World Twenty20 and they will continue to be crucial to their chances of lifting the trophy. R Ashwin and Amit Mishra’s consistency in this fickle format is something to be marveled at. The fact that the team depends so much on their skills, should push them further. South Africa What Dale Steyn means to the South African team can be summed up in the last over of the South Africa-New Zealand match. He defended seven runs in an over that read W 0 0 4 W W. India, like all the team that Steyn has ever played against, will be extremely wary.

India-South Africa in World Twenty20

Last 5 matches (Most recent listed first) India: W W W W W South Africa: W W W L L Captaincy records

Trivia India have now won six Twenty20 matches on the trot – their best winning streak in this format. Since 1992, South Africa have appeared in 17 ICC events (World Cup, Champions Trophy and World T20). Only once have they gone past semi-final. That was in 1998 Champions Trophy when South Africa eventually won the tournament. In matches played at Mirpur in this tournament, nearly 55% of wickets have been taken by spinners (excluding run-outs). Squads India: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Amit Mishra, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron, Ravindra Jadeja.

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Farhaan Behardien, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.