One titan will fall today
Proteas meet India in virtual quarterfinal
India captain Virat Kohli says India will thrive under pressure in their make or break Champions Trophy clash with South Africa on Sunday, while his South African counterpart AB de Villiers vowed to end his barren run in the nick of time as the teams prepare for a must-win showdown with India.
After slumping to a shock defeat against Sri Lanka on Thursday, holders India must win their final Group B fixture at The Oval to avoid an embarrassing exit. India came into the tournament as favourites to lift the silverware, but failure to build on their opening match thrashing of Pakistan has put their title defence in jeopardy.
Although he is well aware of the criticism that would come with elimination at the group stage, India captain Kohli is remaining upbeat and he called on his players to embrace the high-stakes nature of their showdown.
“It's become very exciting. Every game is effectively a quarter-final now," Kohli said. "In our group especially, all teams are on two points, and you have to win your next game to go through, which is an exciting position to be in for all teams. It's a great scenario where you literally have two matches now which are going to be even more competitive cricket. So we are pretty clear about the whole situation. It certainly opened up the whole table for sure."
South Africa also come into the final fixture on the back of a defeat, against Pakistan on Wednesday, but Kohli warned his team not to underestimate the Proteas.
"We are against a very high quality side and we have to go out there and play good cricket," he said. "So there's no room for complacency in a tournament like this, and we as a team certainly don't feel that. Even if we had four points on the board right now, we still would have gone out there to try to beat South Africa, and that's exactly the mindset we are going to take into the next game."
De Villiers's first golden duck in his long and successful ODI career came during South Africa's shock loss to Pakistan and the 33-year-old has managed just four runs in the tournament, but the right-hander, who declared himself fully fit after recent hamstring problems, is convinced he will get back on track against India.
“Look, I'm still in good form. Still hitting the ball well, as always," De Villiers told a press conference on Saturday. "It's just a matter of going out and doing it. There's nothing I can say here that's going to change anything except for that I still believe I can and hopefully I'll prove that tomorrow. But I'm very excited with this opportunity for the team and for myself on the big stage to go and just enjoy what we do best. "We're very excited about tomorrow and I also feel really excited about the opportunities."