Following their defeat against Sri Lanka, India will face South Africa in what is a virtual quarter-final on Sunday.
India failed to defend a target of 322 against the Sri Lankans and there has been a debate since about the decision to bench off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
If Ashwin does come into the playing eleven, it will be interesting to see who will miss out. Will Virat Kohli and co. decide to drop a specialist batsman? Will Hardik Pandya make way or will the Indians go away from their strategy of playing three specialist fast bowlers?
India have a better net run-rate than South Africa, which gives them a slight advantage in case of a no-result, meaning Kohli’s side will go through to the final four.
The Proteas, who came into the tournament as the number one ODI side in the world, lost to eighth-ranked Pakistan in a rain-affected match which threw Group B wide open.
With scores of 4 and 0 in the tournament so far, the form of captain AB de Villiers is a real concern for South Africa.
He has a good record against India in recent times though, with four centuries, an average of 71.88 and a strike rate of 122.77 in his last 10 ODIs facing Sunday’s opponents.
Many expected India and South Africa to qualify with ease from this group, but it is almost certain that one of the two teams will be heading home after this encounter.
Date: June 11, 2017 (Sunday)
Time: 13:30 GST, 10:30 local, 09:30 GMT, 15:00 IST, 14:30 PKT
Venue: Kennington Oval, London
TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD
Full coverage on Sport360.com.
CONFIRMED INDIA XI: Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli (c), Yuvraj, Dhoni (wk), Jadhav, Hardik, Jadeja, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah.
CONFIRMED SOUTH AFRICA XI: Amla, de Kock (wk), du Plessis, de Villiers (c), Miller, Duminy, Morris, Phehlukwayo, Rabada, Morkel, Tahir.
SPORT360 MATCH PREDICTION: This is a very tough game to predict and the result will be decided by which team manages to handle the pressure better.
