1 year ago
222
Having already confirmed their places in the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC World Cup, India and South Africa will battle it out in Kolkata on Sunday in an attempt to secure the top spot at the end of the league stage.
World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table
Hosts India have been the most dominant team so far in the tournament, winning all seven of their matches so far. South Africa, who weren’t considered semi-final favourites, have produced a surprisingly clinical run where they’ve won six out of seven matches, with their only defeat coming at the hands of Netherlands in Dharamsala.
The winning of the blockbuster encounter at Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens could end up deciding which team finishes top of the table. Both India and South Africa have maintained superb net run rates, with the Proteas slightly ahead on +2.290 compared to the Men in Blue’s +2.102.
It promises to be a fascinating contest and Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin can’t escape the deja vu feeling since they were part of the World Cup squad that had a similar run in 2011.
The only game that India had lost in the 2011 edition was against South Africa when an unheralded Robin Peterson had smashed Ashish Nehra for 19 runs after Indian batting imploded in Nagpur despite a hundred from Sachin Tendulkar.
Kohli, who is one short of record-equalling 49th ODI hundred, and Ashwin are the only players in the current squad who were part of India’s title-winning run.
On Sunday, Rohit Sharma’s players need to guard themselves from complacency and emulate the all-conquering Australian team of 2007 which won the World Cup without losing a single game.
A win and 16 points would confirm India’s top spot with a match left against the Netherlands.
The die-hard Indian fans however won’t mind Law of Averages catching up before the knockout stage and not feel the heat when it matters most.
South Africa’s batting line-up, filled with power-hitters and game-changers will test India’s ‘pace galacticos’ before the semi-finals.
An unprecedented demand of tickets has added to the excitement to the Eden contest which in bigger picture will determine the group toppers heading into the semi-finals.
SA’s batting vs India’s pacers
Consistently racking up those humongous scores, it has been a challenge bowling to South Africa in this World Cup.
They had notched the tournament’s biggest score of 428/5 batting first against Sri Lanka in their opening match.
In all of their five matches they have batted first, South Africa have posted 300-plus totals with their chief enforcer being Quinton de Kock who leads the run-chart with 545 runs from seven matches.
Their only weakness has been chasing which was exposed by the minnows Netherlands who bundled them out for 207 inside 43 overs defending a modest 245.
The Proteas also made a mess of their 271-run chase against Pakistan before tailender Keshav Maharaj sealed an edgy one-wicket win.
India, on the other hand, have showed they can chase and defend well.
Chasing would be easy with dew around at the Eden but South Africa would be wary to bat second and would look to go all out up front.
Shami 2.0: ‘No rocket science’
“Eat. Sleep. Take five-wicket haul. Repeat” — reads a post from the ICC in praise of Indian pacer Mohammed Shami’s second five-for in three matches in this World Cup.
Call it a twist of fate but Shami has made the biggest difference to this Indian team following premier all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s ankle injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.
It forced a twin change with Suryakumar Yadav and Shami brought in place of Pandya and Shardul Thakur for the New Zealand match.
Since then, Shami has been on a roll taking 14 wickets in three matches at an average of 6.71.
Shami calls it ‘no rocket science’ but the way he has consistently hit Test match lengths and get those late movements, has made India’s three-pronged pace attack the most lethal, something that was evident when they skittled out Sri Lanka for 55 en route to securing a record 302-run win.
While Jasprit Bumrah has added a menacing slower yorker to his repertoire, Mohammed Siraj has given him a perfect support with the new ball.
They have taken 10 wickets — five each — in the powerplay as India have been most economical of the 10 teams in this crucial phase.
Half of the battle will be won if the duo manages to give early breakthroughs by sending back in-form De Kock and Rassie van der Dussen, who have six centuries between them in this World Cup.
Another interesting battle will be the battle between Heinrich Klaasen, who is known for taking on the spin attack, and Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.
‘Batting might’
Having missed centuries against Australia (85), New Zealand (95), Sri Lanka (88), Kohli on his 35th birthday, would be eager to finally get that record-equalling 49th ODI hundred.
Rohit has a penchant to score daddy hundreds at his ‘favourite’ Eden Gardens and he too would be keen to be back among runs after getting out for 4 against Sri Lanka at his home ground.
India vs South Africa World Cup 2023 match date
The India vs South Africa Cricket World Cup match will be played on Sunday, 5 November.
India vs South Africa World Cup 2023 match time
The India vs South Africa Cricket World Cup match will start at 2 PM IST. The toss will take place at 1.30 PM IST.
India vs South Africa World Cup 2023 match venue
The India vs South Africa Cricket World Cup match will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, West Bengal.
India vs South Africa World Cup 2023 match LIVE Streaming
The India vs South Africa Cricket World Cup match will be broadcast live on Star Sports Network and live streaming will be available on Disney+ Hotstar.
India vs South Africa head-to-head
South Africa lead India in the head-to-head record, both in ICC World Cups as well as in ODIs overall.
The Proteas led the Men in Blue 3-2 in World Cup meetings, having won the first three in 1992, 1999 and 2011 with India reducing the deficit in 2015 and 2019.
As for the overall record, South Africa lead 57-30 in 90 ODI meetings, with three games ending in a No Result.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav and Prasidh Krishna.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen and Lizaad Williams.
With inputs from PTI
English (US)