South Africa are at the top of the CWC 2023 table with 12 points from 7 games.
The Proteas have been ruthless in their performances so far, barring a blip against Netherlands. They have posted scores such as 428/5, 399/7, 382/5, and 357/4 while batting first and putting the opposition side under massive pressure.
Their next encounter will be against India on November 5 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and Proteas batter Rassie van der Dussen is confident that they will defeat India and qualify for the semi-finals.
"Obviously, playing India in India is a massive event. They've been playing really well. A lot of experience in their team. They've got all bases covered, brilliant bowling attack, and obviously the batting as well. But again, we'll go into that game knowing that if we do the things that we want to do, we'll be in a really strong position. The challenge is to be under pressure, to stay with that, and that's what we'll look to do. But we've played them here before and we've beaten them here before,” Van der Dussen said in the post-match press conference.
South Africa has managed only one ICC trophy thus far which came in the form of the Knockout Trophy in 1998, which later became the Champions Trophy tournament.
South Africa's strength has undoubtedly been their formidable batting unit, as evidenced by their remarkable statistics. They had the fewest dot balls and yet the most boundaries of any team in this World Cup.
Van der Dussen explained, "I think that's a result of what we want to do when we're out in the middle. We talk about assessing the conditions and what's the correct option and always having the correct intent. Our approach differs throughout the innings, considering options and intent, but we know that if we can follow through with these principles, we naturally put ourselves in a better position to score and to position the ball where we want to."
South Africa has hit 82 sixes in the CWC 2023 so far, a world record, which they achieved against New Zealand. Before them, England had hit 76 sixes in the 2019 World Cup.
(PTI inputs)