India’s Veda Krishnamurthy is confident her side can keep up its perfect record at the ICC Women’s World Cup when it takes on South Africa at Grace Road.
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 holds the upper hand against South Africa and knows its strengths and weaknesses with the white ball.
She said: “We’re quite confident for the game against South Africa because in the last four or five 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.
“We played them a couple of months back so we know their strengths and weaknesses, so 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, which is currently sitting fifth in the table with two wins, a defeat and a washout, is looking to bounce back after losing to England after the host spanked the fifth highest score in World Cup history to win by 68 runs.
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.
She said: “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. 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.
“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.”
In South Africa, the match will be live on SuperSport 12, Supersport.com and its app, while it can be watched live on Hotstar in India. For more details, contact your local listings.
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
Umpires: Paul Wilson and Jacqueline Williams
Match referee: Steve Bernard
