A dress rehearsal for the final. This is what you may call today's encounter between India and South Africa. The winner goes to the top of the table. Losing team will end up being second on the points table. Winning tomorrow will be a psychological victory for either side. It promises to be a cracker of a contest on Virat's birthday.
India: India has not put a foot wrong in this tournament having won 7 in 7. They would look to keep a perfect record before playing the semi finals. The team has peaked at the right time and there is a different player who shines in different games. Virat Kohli has been an epitome of consistency. Rohit 2.0 is something that we love watching. He hits the ground running right from the first ball setting a tempo where in middle order can take their time and go after the bowling in the middle overs and later at the death. India's bowling has been so good that they are making the ball talk whenever they want. Watching Shami and Bumrah bowl in tandem with Siraj is a treat to the eyes. 10 odd years ago if you told anyone that India would have the best pace attack in the 2023 WC, people would have laughed at it.
South Africa: To everyone's surprise they have managed to manhandle every team as if they are in a wrestling ring. They had a minor hiccup against Netherlands in a rain-truncated game but they came back making a statement against the world champions scoring 399 and beating them by 229 runs at Wankhede. They have beaten Aus, Pak, Saf, Eng. All the big teams so far, but the challenge will be to beat India. Beating India is not the only aim. This will also help them to top the standings and play their semi finals against a relatively weaker opponent in New Zealand or Pak who they have already beaten in the competition.
Players to watch out for:
Virat Kohli:
5th November is Virat Kohli's birthday and he would look to celebrate it with his 49th century. He has been a great servant of the nation and an absolute legend of the game. We all want him to score big on his birthday. When Virat scores big, half of India sleeps well. He is chasing Quinton De Kock to be the top scorer in this competition and will look to get one over his team when he meets them at the Eden Gardens.
Quinton De Kock:
Quinton had saved his best for the last. Has scored plenty in his last tournament. Just makes you think why is he retiring so early at the peak of his powers. The way he is batting seems as if he can clearly continue till the next WC in the rainbow nation. He is at the top of the heap when it comes to run making and he would look to extend his lead at the top which would make him a contender for man of the series.
Probable XI :
Rohit Sharma ©, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Surya Kumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
South Africa : Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi
Updates:
Hardik Pandya has been ruled out of world cup due to injury, Prasidh Krishna has been named his replacement.
Interesting stats and facts:
IND vs SA Head to Head in ODI - Both the teams have played 90 matches. South Africa has won 50, India has won 37 and three ended with no result.
South Africa and India are the only teams who became the first two teams to Qualify for the semi finals.
Viral Kohli has scored 1403 runs at an average of 61 against Africa, he is the highest scorer for India against South Africa in ODIs, has scored 4 hundreds as well.
Quinton De Kock is the highest scorer for South Africa against India for his 1072 runs in just 19 innings, he averages 56.4 against mighty India. He has scored 4 hundreds against India in ODIs.
Keshav Maharaj is 2 wickets away from 50 ODI wickets.
South Africa's Marco Jensen has taken 16 wickets, while Jasprit Bumrah has taken 15 wickets. Gerald Coetzee has also taken 14 wickets in the event.
Weather and Pitch report: The weather is expected to be clear throughout the day, no rain intervention as per the weather forecast. Eden Garden favors both batters and bowlers. Dew could be the factor, considering the dew factor team winning the toss may prefer to chase, we believe anything under 270 will be tough to defend for both the teams, team batting second will have the upper hand.
Date & Time: 5 November 2023, 2.00 PM (IST)
Venue: Eden Garden, Kolkata.
Live Streaming: Star Sports network and Disney+ Hotstar
Dream 11:
