The vast, empty and silent terraces of the Melbourne Cricket Ground lay in anticipation on Saturday for Sunday's ICC Cricket World Cup Group B game between India and South Africa to electrify the vast hordes of fans enjoying a battle royale on what looks like a bald, hard pitch.
Any optimism around Sunday's match being a competitive battle would have been looked at with disdain. But the emphatic manner in which India secured victory over Pakistan in Adelaide as well as South Africa's less than convincing show against Zimbabwe in Hamilton last week have combined to heighten expectations of a keen battle. Some amazing friendships struck on the international circuit and in the much-maligned IPL notably MS Dhoni's association with Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli's bonding with AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn will be set aside on Sunday when the teams step on the field, wearing their respective colours and singing their own national anthems.There can be no doubt that South Africa are the better side on paper, with a series of explosive batsmen like de Villiers, du Plessis, David Miller, JP Duminy and Quinton de Kock to make the most of Hashim Amla's anchoring approach, a quality bowling line-up that can test the best of teams and an eagerness to make this World Cup their own.
Bowling Coach Allan Donald had indicated that South Africa will treat this as a home game for India, considering that Dhoni's team will secure massive crowd support. It led to some talk about how some of South Africa players do not have the experience of playing before large crowds.
However, de Villiers pointed out he has always enjoyed big crowds. I have enjoyed busy, intense games. It should get the blood flowing, playing in front of the big crowd in a big stadium with great tradition and history. We always love playing in big games, so nothing will change. We're just looking forward to playing some good cricket on Sunday. On the contrary, it will help India if they go into the match believing that they are playing a knockout game rather than only their second fixture in the league stage. A huge effort here can not only help them in their bid to take top spot in the pool but also ensure that they maintain the momentum from the big victory over Pakistan last week.
Virat Kohli, who fronted for the team at the media briefing it was important for the side to hold momentum in a tournament like the World Cup. A win against a team like South Africa will strengthen our immense self-belief that we can beat big sides in the knockout stages as well.
South Africa may bring left-arm paceman Wayne Parnell in place of Farhaan Behardein or Vernon Philander, who is battling to regain fitness from a stiff hamstring. India will most likely retain the XI against Pakistan. The vast terraces will neither be empty nor silent on Sunday afternoon when the teams roll out a heady.
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