India have already had a big hit out against Pakistan, in Adelaide last Sunday, but now face opponents whom they have never beaten in World Cup play before. India have lost all three games to South Africa – in Adelaide in 1992, Hove in 1999 and Nagpur in 2011.
It isn’t quite 6-0 yet like India v Pakistan, but it is slowly getting there.
"I am not sure. I haven’t really thought about it that way,” Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, said on Thursday, ahead of a training session at the MCG, when he was asked if he thought his side had the mental edge going into this encounter.
“We just really are focussing hard on our preparations this next week. I haven’t thought too much about whether we have got a psychological advantage over India or not. India are the current World champions and a wonderful one-day side. Whatever has happened in the past in previous World Cups will count for very little on Sunday."
Much of Wednesday was spent speculating about the fitness of Dale Steyn. The pace ace had missed training at the Junction Oval with suspected flu, but Domingo allayed all fears about his health, even as Steyn himself was hard at work at practice nets, indicating that he would play a full part in the India game.
“He has had a little bit of sinusitis, nothing too serious or too much to be concerned about. The rooms in Christchurch were especially cold with a lot of air going in. I am sure a lot of you guys had some sniffs and stuff,” Domingo told the South African journalists. “There’s nothing there to be too concerned about.”
Talk then veered back to India, and the high-profile nature of the contest at a venue that can hold upwards of 90,000 spectators. “Like I have always said over the last year, every game we play for South Africa is a big game and that’s the way we want to approach it,” said Domingo, who took over as coach some 18 or so months back from Gary Kirsten, the former India coach.
“We know that there is always a lot of hype when India is in town. They have got massive support and some really big players in their side. But we are not seeing it as a highly profiled game. Every game we play for South Africa is a big game for us. We are treating it in pretty much the same way as we treat any other game playing for South Africa.
“We obviously know that Virat Kohli has been an outstanding player for India over the last couple of years and his record is phenomenal. He is obviously a kingpin in their batting line-up but we were just talking at dinner last night about guys like Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, (Ajinkya) Rahane has been in great form this summer.
They have got a seriously good batting line-up. I don’t think the South African style is to target any one individual player, it is not the way we go about our stuff. It’s pretty much respecting the whole unit as a collective unit because you know that they have got match-winners right through their batting line-up.”
The result of Sunday’s encounter is unlikely to impact the quarterfinal line-up too much, with both South Africa and India, the defending champions, expected to go through to the last eight. But Domingo said that didn’t mean there was nothing riding on this game.
“The result is always important, there is no doubt about that,” he emphasised. “You’d rather come off a big win in front of a big crowd against a quality side like India rather than a loss. Like I have said previously, every game you play for your country is an important game.
Every time you win a cricket game for your country, you have got to appreciate that win because it is not easy to win international cricket games.
Although it is early in the tournament, I think a lot of positives can be taken out of a positive result or a good performance against a side like India in front of a crowd which I have heard is close to being sold out or just about sold out. It is going to be a big stage for some of our players who haven’t experienced that type of atmosphere before. There’s a lot you can take out of a good result against India.”
While South Africa haven’t followed India’s progress closely over the last few months, Domingo said his side wasn’t unaware of what India had been up to.
“To be honest, we didn’t watch too much of that (India-Pakistan) game, it was during our game against Zimbabwe, so our focus was purely on that,” he noted. “But they have got match-winners in their side. I did hear one of them saying after the match that the eight days they had off or something was very important for them to just freshen up mentally. That could have been a part of it (the win against Pakistan). We know that they have got some of the best players of the world in their side and they have had a tough tour of Australia. But it’s not the tour of Australia that is at the top of their list at the moment, the World Cup is their main priority now.
We know that they will be fresh and they will be ready to go come Sunday, and we are going to have to be on top of our game.”
South Africa have been bolstered by the presence as consultants of Kirsten and Mike Hussey, the former Australian batsman. “I think just his (Hussey’s) presence alone is a big plus for us,” Domingo enthused. “He is a guy who has won a World Cup as a player, he has been in pressure situations in Australia. He has played under these conditions for a long period of time.
He is known as a very thoughtful cricketer, he plans meticulously about his own personal game and hopefully some of the things that he has learnt playing in competitions like this he can pass on to some of our players, whether it is in the mental preparation, whether it is in the tactical strategy when going out to bat under pressure, whether it is just thinking under certain conditions.
“The most important thing about those two consultants we have brought in is their personalities. They are really good people, they come across really well. They are respectful of the space that they are working in and don’t try to flood information into the players. Hussey is an experienced player, he knows what you would expect from a coach. Gary is an experienced coach, he has been with the side for a long period of time.
He knows when to give some information and when not to give some information. We have had informal discussions about how we would like to go about the business and they are very comfortable in the space and understand what input they feel they need to give.”
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