India ready for Proteas in key encounter

India’s Veda Krishnamurthy is confident her side can keep up their perfect record at the Women’s World Cup when they take on South Africa at Grace Road in Leicester on Saturday.

Having already beaten England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, victory against South Africa would see India progress to the semi-finals.

Krishnamurthy believes India hold the upper hand against South Africa and know their strengths and weaknesses.

“We’re quite confident for the game against South Africa because in the last 4-5 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,” she said.

South Africa, who currently sit fifth in the points table with two wins, a defeat and a washout, are looking to bounce back after losing to England after the hosts scored the fifth-highest score in Women’s World Cup history to win by 68 runs.

But captain Dane van Niekerk believes her bowlers can reproduce the team’s form that saw South Africa bowl the West Indies out for 48 in Leicester.

“Our bowlers don’t like getting hit. 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,” she said.

Individually, South Africa are good, but when it comes to collective performance, they depend on main players to do well. VEDA KRISHNAMURTHY, On the comparison