T20 World Cup: SA v Ind Preview: India eye third win against equally strong South Africa

India have a stiff challenge on their hands as they take on a confident South Africa unit in Perth in the Group 2 clash on Sunday.

The winner of this match will have one foot in the semi-finals and both India and South Africa will be aware of that as they go head-to-head in Perth in a key contest at the T20 World Cup.

Familiarity - it's a keyword often avoided when bringing up T20 match-ups. South Africa and India know each other pretty well. These two have faced each other off eight times in this format in 2022 alone!

None of those, though, happened outside India. India won four of those games, while South Africa pulled back three with one match washed out. The numbers aren't lying — they know each other pretty well and expect this knowledge to shine through in what could be a very tactical contest. 

India come off the back of wins against Pakistan and Netherlands, while South Africa thumped Bangladesh and had their match against Zimbabwe ending with points split following persistent rain. 

With Pakistan's loss to Zimbabwe, these two teams are eyeing an early semi-final spot and this game could be a deciding factor in who makes it to the final four.

Both sides are fairly well settled and there are unlikely to be any surprises in the playing XI. Despite Tabraiz Shamsi's impressive showing against Bangladesh, the wrist spinner, whose record against India isn't the most impressive, could make way for Lungi Ngidi.

Temba Bavuma's concerning form is something South Africa would have to live with, but Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw provide ample cover with their dynamics. The former's return to form could be key to Proteas getting a good start, but India could throw their wild card in Ashwin at the leftie.

A possible change South Africa might be pondering is to bring in Heinrich Klaasen, whose capability against spin is no secret, for Tristan Stubbs. 

India seem to have real good clarity on their final XI and it's unlikely that it would change for South Africa. That said, expect them to be clever with the usage of Axar Patel the batter and Ashwin the bowler. 

Rohit Sharma's aggression at the top would be something to watch out for given the new ball bowlers South Africa would have lined up to counter him.

Kohli's impressive form and the daunting presence of Suryakumar Yadav make India's batting line-up one of the strongest in the competition.

South Africa are not too bad either with a middle order that has gone at a frenzied strike rate in this format in the recent past. But with Parnell at No.7, the lower order is slightly long and against a good bowling unit like India's, South Africa might be wary of going all out in attack.

Possible: XI
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Dinesh Karthik, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh

South Africa: Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma (c), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje

Key Players
Virat Kohli: Kohli's back and seemingly there's no stopping him. A scarcely believable average of 85.0 in T20Is in Australia in 12 matches with a half-century count matching that of David Warner in his backyard gives Kohli's already ominous presence statistical backing, if it ever needed one.

Anrich Nortje: South Africa's batting line-up might be the talk of the town, but to ruffle India's own extraordinary batting group, the Proteas need extra zip and the irresistible Nortje, who has already pushed the speed gun this tournament, on a Perth wicket might just be the difference between two strong teams.