India will face South Africa in the 37th match of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 on Sunday. The top spot is at stake for the two teams in the clash that will take place at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata from 2 PM IST onwards.
A win and 16 points would confirm India’s top spot with a match left against the Netherlands. The die-hard Indian fans however won’t mind ‘Law of Averages’ catching up before the knock-out stage and not feel the heat when it matters most.
South Africa’s batting line-up, filled with power-hitters and game-changers will test India’s ‘pace galacticos’ before the semi-finals.
Rahul Dravid has always been big on data but when it comes to judging Ravindra Jadeja’s exceptional performance, the Indian coach looks more at situational impact rather than dry statistics that reveal less and conceal more.
Jadeja has scored 81 runs in three innings and taken nine wickets in 55.3 overs with an economy rate of 3.78.
“It’s been exceptional. I think, you know, Jadeja, someone, if you look at the numbers, we look at stats, we look at data, we look at it quite a lot. I mean, he has been exceptional in this tournament,” Dravid said when asked about someone like Jadeja’s contribution.
“Because of how good our seamers have been and how fantastic it has been to watch them upfront, the performances of people like Jaddu (Jadeja) and Kuldeep (Yadav) have probably gone slightly unnoticed,” said Dravid as he tried to put things in context.
The coach seemed happy that Suryakumar Yadav is showing a different side to his batting with a gritty 49 on a tough track against England.
“You’ve got to keep evolving. You’ve got to keep getting better. And the more kinds of situations he (Surya) finds himself in and he comes out of it, like he did really well against England, the better he’s going to get at it,” Dravid said about ‘Mr 360’.
South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma is basking in the glory of a string of dazzling performances in the World Cup but indicated that facing quality Indian spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja could test his batters when the teams clash in Kolkata on Sunday.
“Kuldeep (Yadav) has bowled very well. He’s been taking wickets for them in the middle, in conjunction with (Ravindra) Jadeja. So, they’ve been quite key within that middle phase. “I think we’ve played spin quite well as a team over the last couple of years. So, it’ll be a good test for us batters as to how we come up against the challenge of Yadav as well as Jadeja,” he said in the pre-match media conference.
Bavuma also said that the Proteas will have to bring their ‘A’ game to the table to counter Indian bowling, which has been augmented by the inclusion of pacer Mohammed Shami.
The match against India will be played on a used wicket that hosted the first World Cup tie in Kolkata between the Netherlands and Bangladesh. There may be something in it for the spinners and Bavuma indicated he might playing both Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi on Sunday.