ICC Women’s World Cup: India ready for South Africa in key encounter

Having already beaten England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, victory against South Africa would see India progress to the ICC Women’s World Cup semi-finals.

India’s Veda Krishnamurthy is confident her side can keep up their perfect record at the ICC Women’s World Cup when they take on South Africa at Grace Road in Leicester on Saturday.

India will take on South Africa in the ICC Women’s World Cup at Grace Road, Leicester, on Saturday.(PTI)

Having already beaten England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, victory against South Africa would see India progress to the semi-finals.

And Krishnamurthy believes India hold the upper hand against South Africa and know their strengths and weaknesses with the white ball.

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“We’re quite confident for the game against South Africa because in the last 4-5 games we have played against them we have done well. We are aware of their team, we know what combinations and players are there, so we can play according to our strengths,” she said.

“We played them a couple of months back so we know their strengths and weaknesses. We will be working towards them. We are more compact than them, because individually, South Africa are very good, but when it comes to collective performance, they really depend on their main players to do well.”

South Africa, who currently sit fifth in the points table with two wins, a defeat and a washout, are looking to bounce back after losing to England after the hosts spanked the fifth highest score in ICC Women’s World Cup history to win by 68 runs.

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But captain Dane van Niekerk believes her bowlers can reproduce the team’s stunning form that saw South Africa bowl the West Indies out for 48 in Leicester.

“Our bowlers don’t like getting hit like that. I am sure they will come back firing even stronger so I’m excited to see what they will do in the next few days and how they are going to go about their work. It doesn’t mean their skills have gone away in just one game, and it doesn’t mean the West Indies game was a fluke,” she said.

“We are a good bowling side, every team in the world has had days like this. We’re going back to Leicester where it’s going to be a lot different conditions-wise. We’ll go back to what we know and try and hit our lengths. We need to have a plan and execute our plans. Cricket is cricket and it’s how you bounce back. My team showed character and I’m sure they will bounce back in the next game.

“India are a brilliant batting side, they have a lot of spinners and they are on a high. They are playing really good cricket at the moment and they are the ones to beat. They had a bit of a stumble against Pakistan but they won that game convincingly. We’re lucky that we’ve played them a few times recently so everything is still fresh in the memories.

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“None of the games we have played against them have been runaway games. It’s been really good cricket so I’m excited to take them on.”

Squads:

South Africa: Dane van Niekerk (captain), Trisha Chetty. Moseline Daniels, Nadine de Klerk, Mignon du Preez, Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Lizelle Lee, Sune Luus, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Andrie Steyn, Chloe Tryon, Laura Wolvaardt, Odine Kirsten.

India: Mithali Raj (captain), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smrti Mandhana, Mona Meshram, Shikha Pandey, Poonam, Nuzhat Parween, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma, Sushma Verma, Smriti Mandhana.