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Team India will soon take on South Africa in what is expected to be a riveting encounter for supremacy in the 2023 ODI World Cup points table. Only two points separate the two sides as the tournament heads into the business stage, and both teams boast an impressive net run rate, courtesy of their mammoth wins in the league stage so far.
As far as the Men's ODI World Cup is concerned, India and South Africa have faced each other a total of five times, with South Africa winning the first three meetings and India claiming a win off the most recent set of matches. The two sides came up against each other for the first time at the 1992 ODI World Cup, where South Africa won by six wickets.
Apart from the Men's ODI World Cup, the two nations have had memorable encounters across the Men's T20 World Cup, Women's ODI World Cup and the Women's T20 World Cup.
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On that note, let us take a look at the five best matches between India and South Africa at World Cups across the entire spectrum.
#1 2011 World Cup (Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur)
India and South Africa were placed in the same group in the 2011 ODI World Cup. India, co-hosting the tournament along with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, were among the favorites considering the talent that they possessed.
After electing to bat first, the Men in Blue got off to a brilliant start, courtesy of the in-form pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. The former scored a century while Sehwag smashed a fifty to put on 142 runs for the first wicket.
The hosts were comfortably placed at 267-1, with Gautam Gambhir also coming in and chipping in with a fifty. However, the last 10 overs of the innings completely belonged to South Africa, particularly Dale Steyn. The pacer ran through the Indian batting unit to finish with figures of 5-50 as India collapsed to 296 all out with eight balls to spare.
In reply, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, and AB de Villiers scored half-centuries to keep South Africa in the hunt.
Ashish Nehra was handed the responsibility of bowling the final over of the innings, with 13 runs to defend. All-rounder Robin Peterson wrapped up the run chase in four deliveries, hitting three boundaries to help South Africa win by three wickets.
#2 2022 T20 World Cup (Perth Stadium, Perth)
The most recent World Cup meeting between the two sides came at the Perth Stadium at the 2022 T20 World Cup. On a fiery green wicket, South Africa pacers blew the Indian top order apart to leave them tottering at 49-5.
Suryakumar Yadav played one of the best innings of his career, scoring 68 runs off 40 deliveries to help India post a competitive total of 133-9, considering the conditions.
In reply, the Indian bowlers also made a promising start and had South Africa reeling at 25-3 at one stage. However, poor fielding - which included a dropped catch from Virat Kohli and a missed run-out opportunity by Rohit Sharma - helped South Africa slowly trudge their way back into the game.
Aiden Markram and David Miller recorded fifties as South Africa scaled the total with two balls to spare.
#3 2012 T20 World Cup (R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo)
The 2012 T20 World Cup meeting between India and South Africa was extremely crucial from India's perspective. The Men in Blue not only required a win but also had to keep an eye on the margin to ensure progress into the semi-finals.
After being put into bat, India fell in trouble and were struggling at 36-3. The middle-order batters stepped up with some cameos, resulting in India ending up with 152-6 at the end of the first innings.
Indian seamers made the perfect start with the new ball to reduce South Africa to 6-2 in the opening set of overs. India were eliminated from the tournament after South Africa crossed the 122-run mark in the run chase. Faf du Plessis scored a brilliant fifty but lacked support as the match dragged to the final over.
With 14 runs required off the last over, the Morkel brothers kept the Proteas in the hunt with a couple of sixes, but Lakshmipathy Balaji responded with two wickets to end the contest in favor of India by a solitary run.
#4 2014 T20 World Cup (2nd Semi-final; Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Dhaka)
India and South Africa faced each other in the semi-finals of the 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.
After opting to bat first, South Africa were tested by the in-form Indian bowling unit. Hashim Amla was bamboozled by a magic carrom ball from Ravichandran Ashwin, which set the tone for the innings.
The Proteas posted a competitive total of 172-4, with skipper Faf du Plessis scoring a fighting fifty.
In reply, India were handed a quick start by opening batters Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. The in-form Virat Kohli dictated the proceedings during the run chase with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina contributing with small cameos.
Kohli finished things off in a memorable fashion in the final over after MS Dhoni blocked the last delivery of the penultimate over with the scores being level.
#5 2022 Women's World Cup (Hagley Oval, Christchurch)
The 2022 Women's World Cup was rife with close encounters, one such came between India and South Africa, which was also the final league-stage match. It was a must-win game for both sides in terms of their semi-final hopes.
India skipper Mithali Raj won the toss and opted to bat first. Led by fifties from Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Varma, 91 runs were put up for the first wicket. India's batting charge continued with crucial knocks by Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur. The Women in Blue, however, crumbled towards the end, losing their way from 234-3 in the 43rd over to finishing with 274-7 after 50 overs.
South Africa's opening batter Laura Woolvardt led the proceedings in the run chase with a well-made 80. The affair turned out to be nervy after Rajeshwari Gayakwad conceded 14 runs in the 47th over and claimed a wicket as well.
Deepti Sharma was entrusted to bowl the final over with seven runs to defend. After a set of singles and a wicket, the equation was down to three runs required off two deliveries. Mignon du Preez holed out to long-on off the penultimate delivery, which seemingly sealed the contest for India.
However, Deepti Sharma had overstepped, resulting in a free hit for South Africa. The batters wrapped up the chase with two singles to crush Indian hearts.
The Women in Blue finished fifth in the points table and narrowly missed out on the semi-finals of the tournament.
Interestingly, this marked only the second instance where a run chase was completed off the final delivery of a women's ODI. Furthermore, this was also South Africa's highest successful run chase.
Will the two sides dish out yet another memorable contest to add to the list? Let us know what you think.
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