Eden Gardens set for top-of-table contest

Tournament pacesetters India and South Africa will meet in a mouth-watering contest at Kolkata's Eden Gardens today.

The hosts have already qualified for the semi-finals after winning all seven of their matches to date while victory for South Africa will guarantee a top-four spot. The Proteas will be wary of the India challenge going into the encounter.

"You've got two teams who are in-form, coming up against each other and I think it's just a matter of who breaks first and who's able to, I guess, exploit that moment or that weakness," South Africa captain Bavuma told a pre-match press conference yesterday.

The diminutive 33-year-old added: "We understand that there will be pressure moments within the World Cup, moments that we've overcome to get to this point, and there will still be more. We'll deal with them as best as we can."

India's top five have all shown form, with even Shubman Gill getting among the runs at Wankhede with a solid 92. India's pace attack has looked leagues ahead of their counterparts, performing with aplomb under the lights in their last two fixtures.

"It's obviously a world-class bowling attack, they know everything about these conditions," said the South Africa skipper.

"You don't get a lot of bad balls. The three up front, Bumrah, Siraj, as well as Shami...if there's swing, if there's nip, they can exploit that. You've really got to be on your 'A game' with that new ball."

South Africa, however, will know that batting first has worked in their favour so far in the tournament. The Proteas have thrived with that option, regularly crossing the 350-run threshold with ease.

While fellow opener Quinton de Kock tops the batting charts with 545 runs in seven games, including four centuries, Bavuma has managed only 111 runs in five matches despite some decent starts.

"You always want to be making contributions. The other batters are smashing it at the moment. I take comfort in the fact that I've been involved in some partnerships with Quinton up front," Bavuma said.

And even if they don't get their preferred bat-first, there is enough firepower in the South Africa pace attack to rattle India. In addition, they carry a strong spin arsenal in Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi.

An important factor in the contest will be the wicket in Kolkata, which hasn't yielded big-scoring games so far.