ICC Champions Trophy 2017, India vs South Africa: 5 players to watch out for
India and South Africa have played against each other in the Champions Trophy thrice. Interestingly, on all three occasions, it was a virtual knockout game and rather unsurprisingly, South Africa lost all three of these encounters.
A fourth one is set to take place at The Oval on Sunday and the stakes are again huge. Both teams have suffered unexpected to losses to opponents that looked weaker on paper in the past week and are now looking to climb out of a self-induced rut.
India have some bowling concerns to sort out after the hammering they received against a young Sri Lankan side while South Africa's batting as well as bowling look haphazard at the moment. While India are known to bring their best game to big games, the Proteas have had trouble catching a ball in knockout games. Times have changed and personnel has changed as well and as Bangladesh proved against the Kiwis, anything can happen on the cricket field.
Here is our take on five players to watch out for in the India-South Africa clash.
#5 David Miller
David Miller has been a shining knight in armour for the Proteas since setting foot in England. He made a brilliant half-century in the second ODI against England but saw his knock go in vain courtesy a miraculous final over from Mark Wood. He rose to the occasion yet again in the Pakistan game but once again ended up on the losing side.
Miller is a fighter and in the last game he showed how important he is to this South African team. Besides being a fearless finisher, Miller has the patience and is more than capable of holding together an innings, something he did with aplomb against Pakistan. Against India, Miller and his team will hope that he wouldn't have to rebuild a fallen innings, instead can do the finishing job.
Record against India
Matches - 12, Runs - 193, HS - 56*, Avg - 21.44