India will bid to become the third team this tournament to open their World Cup with a win over South Africa when the two teams meet at Southampton on Wednesday.
The Proteas are already facing an uphill battle to qualify for the knockout stages after defeats to England and Bangladesh at The Oval.
They could welcome back Hashim Amla, who missed the Bangladesh match after being hit on the head by England’s Jofra Archer, and Dale Steyn, who has had a shoulder injury. They will be without Lungi Ngidi, however, after he picked up a hamstring injury on Sunday.
Andile Phehlukwayo, however, has backed South Africa to come back strongly in the tournament.
“We can always bounce back, we are a team that bounces back from situations and we will definitely do it again,” said the all-rounder. “We haven’t had a good start, but this is a big tournament and anyone can beat anyone on any given day.”
India are starting the tournament late due to the Indian Premier League, which finished on May 12. They have been strangely quiet since their warm-up matches concluded (they lost to New Zealand and beat Bangladesh), and sent a pair of net bowlers for their press engagements in Southampton yesterday.
On another green pitch at Cardiff this morning, Afghanistan put Sri Lanka in to bat. Afghanistan named an unchanged XI after their defeat to Australia in Bristol on Saturday, while Sri Lanka brought in seamer Nuwan Pradeep for spinner Jeevan Mendis following their reverse to New Zealand in Cardiff.
