South Africa vs Sri Lanka World T20 preview: As dead as dead rubbers can get

So the Proteas’ World T20 ends with a dead rubber, which is surely everyone’s least favourite kind of rubber.

What makes it sadder is that the game will take place on a stage that was set for better things. It’s still in a prime time spot of a public holiday, it’ll still have loud music play throughout and it’ll still be flogged by new age T20 commentators that just never seem to shut up.

“You can just feel the tension in the air! Who will finish third in Group 1? Don’t you dare change the channel on your LG flatscreen! Just grab yourself a Pepsi and we’ll be right back with the Hyundai toss and the Fly Emirates national anthems!”

Neither the commentators nor the DJ in Delhi can fool us. To paraphrase Monty Python, this rubber is no more. It has ceased to be. If you hadn’t nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies. It’s kicked the bucket and shuffled off its mortal coil. This is an ex-rubber.

Even by dead rubber standards, this one against Sri Lanka is a particularly lifeless one. Both teams are out of contention for the knockouts, it’s not one of cricket’s more spicy rivalries and both sides are sporting lineups that look like they have seen better days.

They’ll say that “pride is at stake” for South Africa, which it is. Just because it’s a cliché doesn’t mean it’s not true. More specifically though, the loss of more pride is at stake. Pride that can be gained is particularly limited.

You could even argue that the game is a lose-lose situation for the Proteas. If they lose, they pile more criticism on themselves. If they win, they’ll exacerbate public opinion that they only do it in these ICC tournaments when the pressure is not on.

There is one record at stake that Faf du Plessis’s men should be desperate to avoid. If they lose to Sri Lanka, the Proteas would’ve gone through their first ICC tournament without beating a single ICC full member country.

This should be a point of major stress for coach Russell Domingo. While he must already be in trouble when his contract expires later this year, any negotiation hope will surely get extinguished if all he has to show for a World T20 tournament is a win against Afghanistan.

In the grand scheme, it’s a minor point in a cricket world which has surely put its focus elsewhere.

This game will still have cricketing stars on show and some will show off great skill. However, we all know that this is just a curtain raiser for what is a much, much more important tournament for the players – the IPL.