2017 ICC Women's World Cup: India lock horns against Proteas, set sight on semifinal berth

The Indian women's cricket team which is high on confidence after four successive wins take on South Africa on Saturday at the ICC Women's World Cup at Leicester. The Indians would have a firm sight on a win against the Proteas to seal a semifinal berth.The match is scheduled to commence at 3 pm IST. 

The Indians have been in sublime form all through the tournament notching up impressive wins against England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and arch-rivals Pakistan.The Indians have gelled well as a unit with the batting and bowling firing on all cylinders. Opener Smriti Mandhana, the leading run scorer for India in the tourney has provided the team with solid starts in the opening two games. Meanwhile, captain, Mithali Raj has been in a rich vein of form with the bat. 

The seam attack comprising of Jhulan Goswami and Poonam Raut have bowled well in tandem making regular strikes up front for the team all through the group stage. Young spinner Ekta Bisht has been a revelation of sorts, producing a match-winning spell against Pakistan with a five-wicket haul.  The spin trioka of Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav and Deepti Sharma.

South Africa, on the other hand, are fifth with two wins and a loss from four games with one ending in a washout. Not only because of the good cricket they have been playing in the tournament, India will also take heart from their recent success against South Africa, whom they beat in the final of a Quadrangular series in May.

"We are quite confident for the game against South Africa because in the last four or five games we have played against them we have done well," said Veda Krishnamurthy one of the game.

"We are aware of their team, we know what combinations and players are there, so we can play according to our strengths. We played them a couple of months back so we know their strengths and weaknesses.

"We are more compact than them, because individually, South Africa are very good, but when it comes to collective performance, they really depend on their main players to do well," she added.

Squads

South Africa: Dane van Niekerk (captain), Trisha Chetty, Moseline Daniels, Nadine de Klerk, Mignon du Preez, Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Lizelle Lee, Sune Luus, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Andrie Steyn, Chloe Tryon, Laura Wolvaardt, Odine Kirsten. 

India: Mithali Raj (captain), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smrti Mandhana, Mona Meshram, Shikha Pandey, Poonam, Nuzhat Parween, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma, Sushma Verma, Smriti Mandhana.