Sunday's ICC Cricket World Cup comes from Kolkata where India take on South Africa in a top of the table clash

 

 

 

India

It's all been plain sailing for India who are the only nation to boast a 100% record. All 7 of their wins have been by wide margins with the exception of a 4 wicket victory over New Zealand. After this they will take on the Netherlands and victory here would seal top spot ahead of the semi finals.

 

Last time out India thumped Sri Lanka by 302 runs, posting 357/8 (Gill 92, Kohli 88, Iyer 82) and then bowling SL out for just 55 (Shami 5/18 from 5 overs).

 

Squads and Team News

This was how India lined up last time out.

 

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

 

Did not play: Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan

 

South Africa

With a record of 6 wins and 1 defeat South Africa are in second spot in the standings and if they can turn the hosts over here they will go top of the standings ahead of their final round robin match against Afghanistan.

 

Last time out they came through a crunch game with New Zealand with a 190 run victory in Pune. South Africa posted 357/4 with de Kock (114) and van der Dussen (133) doing the bulk of the damage. The Proteas bowling unit quickly had New Zealand in trouble and the Black Caps were bowled out for 167 with Maharaj taking 4 wickets and Jansen 3.

 

The one blemish on the record was a surprise 38 run loss to the Netherlands, the only game so far where they were chasing a target.

 

Squads and Team News

This was how the Proteas lined up last time out.

 

Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi

 

Did not play: Tabraiz Shamsi, Reeza Hendricks, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lizaad Williams

 

Head to Head

 

Overall the teams have met 90 times with India winning 37 to South Africa's 50 with 3 no results

 

The teams last met in a 3 match series in India in October 2022, the Proteas won the first match but India hit back to win the series 2-1.

 

When the teams met in CWC 2019 India won by 6 wickets

 

 

The Betting

 

India are currently trading at around 0.53/1 to win the game and South Africa can be backed at around 1.38/1

 

Rohit Sharma is 11/4 favourites to top score for India and Quinton de Kock is 3/1 to do likewise for South Africa

 

Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

The Verdict

 

The Proteas have a marginally better net run rate than India and both sides will no doubt fancy top spot by the end of the round robin which would mean playing the fourth placed finisher in the semi's.

With so many in form players top bat and bowler markets are ultra competitive and therefore pretty tricky. Look out for the specials and price boosts over the weekend with a number of bookmakers likely to be dangling carrots. For now I will look to the player to score a 50 market, one from each side, Klaasen and Iyer.

 

Bets: Heinrich Klaasen to score 50? yes at 18/10 with Betway

Shreyas Iyer to score 50? yes at 1.75/1 with Betway

 

 

Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change

 

Discussion Forum

 

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