In the past India may have struggled to beat South Africa in a World Cup game, but in Sunday’s match, the team wants to change that. MS Dhoni’s brigade is keen to see the law of averages catching up with South Africa.
For that to happen in the real world, the team is charged up and taking every possible effort. India want to be at their best in every department of the game at any cost. The players know that if they could carve out a win here, it will open up a golden opportunity for the team to top the group stages.
That is because, after the South Africa challenge, India’s next set of challenges are against some of the teams like the West Indies, UAE, Ireland and Zimbabwe. So, this match is important to the defending world champions in more ways than one.
The preparation for the match is underway and the team management is likely to keep the same playing XI, which took the field against Pakistan last Sunday. However, the conditions in Melbourne would be taken into consideration before deciding on the final eleven.
Meanwhile, South Africa is not sitting idle. This team, led by AB de’ Villiers, have already chalked out the plan of action to torment the Indians. Last time India played against South Africa, Dhoni’s men had lost the match in the last over.
But that loss didn’t affect the overall standing of the Indian team. They became the world champions while South Africa were knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals in the Bangladesh leg.
