Smith says South Africa can win T20 title

South Africa captain Graeme Smith said his side were well-placed to triumph at the World Twenty20 after extending their unbeaten record at the tournament with a 20-run win over the West Indies.

That victory, coupled with a seven-wicket defeat of hosts England
earlier in the week, meant South Africa had won their opening two Super Eights matches.

The Proteas, who are within touching distance of the semi-finals, complete their second round programme against defending champions India at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.

"I really believe we can win it," said Smith after South Africa's win over the West Indies at The Oval.

"But there is a long way to go, a lot of cricket to be played and a lot of good teams in this competition.

"It's been a successful week but a tough one. We get an extra day now before we play India and I'm comfortable with where we are, you can't argue with the performances or the results we have turned out in this competition so far.

"As a team we try to challenge ourselves. There are always things to improve but if we play our best and with our intensity, if we perform to our potential, then we will be difficult to beat."

South Africa made 183 for seven, Herschelle Gibbs top-scoring with 55, before holding the West Indies to 163 for nine in an innings where teenage left-arm quick Wayne Parnell took four wickets for 13 runs.

"You really need to be on top of your game against the West Indies, especially here at the Oval where the conditions suit them," explained Smith.

Parnell, 19, who took three wickets against England, said: "It's still a batsman's game but if you bowl well you can pick up wickets.

"I enjoy bowling at the death. I have developed my yorker in the last 10 months and I am adding other things to my game."

India went down to a seven-wicket loss to the West Indies at Lord's on Friday.

Before they play South Africa they face England on Sunday at Lord's and Smith said of his team's clash with the title-holders: "There is a lot of cricket in the group before that.

"India had not been really tested in the competition until Friday. I think they will have taken a lot of lessons from that.

"It was their first real competitive game so it going to be interesting to see how they go before Tuesday."
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India hit a roadblock | india vs West Indies :t20

The paths India and West Indies took to reach their Super Eights clash couldn't have been more different. India, by virtue of being defending champions, were pooled with the easiest teams and they swept past Bangladesh and Ireland. West Indies, on the other hand, were not favourites to qualify from a group which included Australia and Sri Lanka. They came to Lord's after being stretched by tough opponents and gave India a reality check as to what lies ahead. As MS Dhoni pithily put it, it was one of those days when "nothing really worked".

India's plans had worked smoothly so far in the tournament. Their make-shift opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma, in the absence of Virender Sehwag, succeeded against the Ireland and Bangladesh new-ball attacks. Today they were undone by Fidel Edwards' pace and Dwayne Bravo's variations and the middle order faced its first real test of the competition. Despite Yuvraj Singh's aggressive half-century, India achieved a total that was below par.

"During the middle overs you actually play according to what you get in the first few overs," Dhoni said after the defeat. "If you lose too many wickets in the first few overs, you go for a consolidated approach and play till the 12th or the 13th over so that your lower-order batsmen can come and go after the bowlers. We had to change our plans when Yuvraj and I were batting. We wanted to play the next five or six overs without losing a wicket."

Dhoni and Yuvraj began to consolidate after India were reduced to 29 for 3. The pair took their time in the hope that they would make up for the balls consumed once they were well set and had rebuilt the innings. Yuvraj succeeded but Dhoni didn't and his dismissal, for 11 off 23 balls, set the innings back a long way.

"I got out in the 11th over and that plan got disrupted a bit," Dhoni said. "The intention was not to hit but it went straight to the fielder." Despite the hiccups, a spate of boundaries from Yuvraj, Yusuf Pathan and Harbhajan gave India a fighting chance.

The total of 153 seemed eminently defendable when India's bowlers snuffed out the threat posed by Chris Gayle. They tied him down, allowing him only 22 runs off 28 balls, and he eventually top-edged Yusuf towards short fine leg. However, as reliant as they seem on the pyrotechnics of their captain, West Indies had pushed Sri Lanka in their group match at Trent Bridge without Gayle. Bravo led the charge in that game but couldn't take his team to the top of the group. Today he saw West Indies through to the finish.

Bravo, with his footwork and penchant for the inside-out loft over extra cover, countered India's spinners. He scored 48 runs off 28 balls against Yusuf, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha, ensuring the asking-rate never got out of hand. He even prospered against Ishant Sharma, who has found rhythm operating with the older ball, scoring at a strike-rate of 183 against him.

"Bravo was milking the bowlers and he got quite a few boundaries in the middle overs," Dhoni said. "He played shots over covers and through midwicket and you can't really have fielders there. We were able to raise the required run rate close to 10 runs per over, we were good at that but he took the game away from us."

West Indies' seven-wicket victory has left India in a precarious position. They now need to win both their games against England and South Africa to qualify for the semi-finals. Coincidentally, they were in the same position against the same opponents two years against in South Africa.
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India v West Indies, ICC World Twenty20, Lord's | India v West Indies |IND vs WI | India v West Indies highlight video |India v West Indies live score

Match facts
Friday, June 12
Start time 1730 local (1630 GMT)
India Bat


WI Bat

Big Picture
The business end of the tournament is about to begin for India, who have gone into the Super Eights under-tested. They have gone about their task effectively though, and without fuss, and facing them are a side who have been a total contrast. West Indies have been unpredictable, mercurial at times and pedestrian otherwise, and have relied on individual performances to lift them up.

Beware the individual spark though. The kind of innings Chris Gayle played against Australia can beat any team in the world on its own. The team officials are confident Gayle will be back for this match after he missed the inconsequential league game against Sri Lanka on Wednesday. India's counterpart of Gayle, the man capable of playing a similar innings at the top, Virender Sehwag, is not in town. Now starts the real test of how well Rohit Sharma can fill the opener's slot.

Form guide
(last five matches, most recent first)

India: WWLLW
The only worry so far has been their bowling at the death. In their two warm-up games, they gave away 31 and 39 in their last two overs, and Ireland managed 39 off the last three in the final league game.

West Indies: LWWLW(T)
Lendl Simmons, Gayle's replacement for the match against Sri Lanka, has given West Indies plenty to think about. His bowling figures of 3-0-19-4 first kept Sri Lanka to under 200, and then his 19-ball 29 got West Indies to some sort of a start in their chase.

Watch out for...
India's spin twins: West Indies clearly relished the pace of Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee, but against Sri Lankan quality spin bowling they struggled. Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha are not quite your Murali and Mendis, but they are good enough to test West Indies.

Gayle comes back with immense possibility at the top, inspirational leadership, and canny offbreaks. How long he stays at the crease could spell West Indies' fate.

Team news
India don't really have major reasons to fiddle around with their winning combination. Except for Irfan Pathan, who provides them with an interesting dilemma. Against Bangladesh, he came out in the last over and hit a six and a four right away, which proved to be the difference between a difficult and an improbable chase. But his bowling has been the weak link in the Indian attack: against Bangladesh his two overs went for 20, and against Ireland his 15-run over in the end took the total past 100. Specialist bowlers in Praveen Kumar or RP Singh, or bits-and-pieces allrounder in Irfan Pathan?

India: (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Harbhajan Singh, 8 Zaheer Khan, 9 Irfan Pathan/Praveen Kumar/RP Singh, 10 Pragyan Ojha, 11 Ishant Sharma

Whose place does Gayle take? Simmons will be difficult to push out, which makes Xavier Marshall and Kieron Pollard the prime suspects.

West Indies: (probable) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Andre Fletcher, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6&7 Lendl Simmons/Xavier Marshall/Kieron Pollard, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Fidel Edwards, 11 Suleiman Benn.

Stats and Trivia

• India and West Indies haven't yet faced each other in Twenty20 internationals.
• MS Dhoni's strike-rate in Twnety20 internationals is 105.8, Shivnarine Chanderpaul's is 99.36.Quotes

"We had options for back-up openers, Yusuf and I were also spoken about. But Rohit was in good form in the IPL and has grabbed his chance with both hands."
MS Dhoni speaks about India's new opener, Rohit Sharma

"It will be a big boost for us. With his [Gayle's] presence in the team all the guys' confidence will be up."
Denesh Ramdin, who captained West Indies in Gayle's absence
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