London: South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first against formidable India.
The crowd support will be massive for us. Lots of people who live here and lots who are travelling here and the excitement is amazing. The expectations are nothing new for us. We are used to crowds wanting us to win every game all year round. For us its about keeping composure, being professional, remembering why we got the results in the last two years and backing our skills. We have seen a few games in the tournament since we have arrived late, we have seen patterns in play, Kohl said.
Im very excited, after so much cricket in the last two years. You can tend to burn out after so much cricket, but the World Cup brings a different level of excitement. There is no bigger motivation than playing for your country in the World Cup, let alone captaining the country. Couldn’t be more grateful and happy.
Similarly, Faf du Plessis, South Africa Captain said, We are having a bat. Mostly because of the makeup of the side playing two spinners, that’s the most attacking option. Amla is back for this game – we are getting back our most experienced players. Morris is still playing – keeping the two all-rounders including Phehlukwayo and we’re bringing in an extra spinner for the seamer. We just need to keep fighting and stay strong. We didn’t have the ideal start, but we need to keep going. We need to win 6 games to get to the semis, we have seven games left, so definitely not over yet. Great occasion, and I’m looking forward to it.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Lokesh Rahul, MS Dhoni(w), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis(c), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Jean-Paul Duminy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Tabraiz Shamsi