Mumbai: Big guns and title favorites India and South Africa will face each other in a knockout clash of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Having suffered defeats in their previous matches, India and South Africa face a do-or-die battle in their quest for a semi-final spot when they meet in a Group B contest at The Oval on Sunday. India suffered an unexpected seven-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka in their last group match while Pakistan got the better of South Africa via the Duckworth-Lewis method. Virat Kohli and his men got a reality check against Sri Lanka and will now look to iron out their concerns in the bowling department. India's batting has done well in the tournament so far but it was their bowling which flopped against Sri Lanka. For South Africa, neither their batting not bowling looked to have clicked after a 19-run defeat against Pakistan. The Proteas will look to heavily improvise in both the departments to give their side any chance of a win against India.
Discord and defeat, or amity and victory? Which way will perceptions sway after the virtual quarterfinal against South Africa?
Indian cricket's English summer has been a tumultuous one so far, but Sunday's knockout game also provides Virat Kohli's men a chance to maintain their excellent record in do-or-die situations.
In the past four years, India have won three out of four knockout games, the lone blip coming against the Australians in Sydney in the 2015 World Cup semifinal. Two out of those three victories came in the last Champions Trophy, a tournament in which India have a spotless 3-0 record against South Africa.
So the Indians in recent times have inspired plenty of confidence in pressure situations, better than the South Africans anyway, whose reputation as perennial chokers seems to have dogged them for an eternity.
This time, though, that tiny psychological edge may not be cushion enough: South Africa are the world's No. 1 ODI side. Since the loss to Bangladesh in July 2015, they have won 7 out of 9 ODI series, including beating India in India. Conditions at the Oval are likely to suit them more. They have a settled lineup. On current form, the only opponent more formidable than South Africa would be England on home soil.
Having landed themselves in a mess following the disclosure of differences between Kohli and coach Anil Kumble, and also coming off a shock loss to Sri Lanka, India need to win this one to reaffirm a bit of faith. "You need to have a good balance of being competitive, being passionate, but at the same time not getting overexcited," said Kohli about India's approach to knockout games. Tactical superiority wouldn't hurt either, and to that end India seem to be turning to the card they missed in the Sri Lanka game: Ravichandran Ashwin.
Ashwin has only sporadically been part of India's ODI setup, having played only 9 and missed 18 games since the 2015 World Cup. His economy rate in this period has been marginally higher, 5.55, than his career average of 4.91. However, he also has 12 wickets from those 9 games, and India sorely missed a wicket-taker against the Lankans.
The offie came into the tournament proclaiming a new weapon he had worked on, but has only been allowed to watch from the sidelines so far. On match eve, he was made to bowl for nearly two hours, meaning India had taken cognizance of the three left-handers in the SA lineup - De Kock, David Miller, and JP Duminy.
Will Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who didn't have much of a bowl in the nets, set out to enable India to play two spinners in Ashwin and Jadeja and two pacers in Yadav and Bumrah? Kohli, true to tradition, was suitably cryptic, saying, "Yes, there are all kinds of possibilities. We definitely have looked at the last game and where we can make a bit of a change."
That "last game" saw India losing out in spite of posting 321 on the board, and South Africa have one of the most dangerous batting lineups around, even though they may have imploded against Imad Wasim and Co in the game against Pakistan. "The temptation is definitely there to change the XI. We have 15 world-class players in the side," said captain AB de Villiers, adding: "We also expect to see Ashwin on their side. He's taken many wickets against us."
AB too agreed it was important to "stay calm". "Don't get overexcited, the tendency will be there. We all live for these kinds of moments. I'm expecting intensity and hunger but with a relaxed kind of mindset."
If that sounds contradictory, Kohli wouldn't know. "The team that treats the game as normal as possible will win," he said.
The question is, is it possible to stay normal with everything on the line?
Squads of India and South Africa for ICC Champions Trophy 2017:
INDIA SQUAD: Virat Kohli(Captain), MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Umesh Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami
SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD: AB de Villiers (Captain), Jean-Paul Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Chris Morris, David Miller, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Hashim Amla, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Morne Morkel.
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