Match Previews / Andrew Hughes / 10 March 2011 /

India are already in the quarter-finals and, barring some extremely unlikely results, South Africa will be joining them. But this is still an intriguing clash of the big guns.

London Start Time: 09:00

Venue and Conditions
Nagpur is a venue that most batsmen enjoy. A slow but true wicket and a lightning quick outfield make for some big scores and chasing anything less than 320 or thereabouts should be no problem. That said, in the last game here, between Zimbabwe and Canada, there were signs of deterioration in the surface and Zimbabwe's spin bowlers got some joy out of it.

Team News
South Africa will be without their star spinner Imran Tahir and will have the choice of bringing in Johann Botha as a direct replacement, or opting for a third specialist fast bowler in Lonwabo Tsotsobe or Wayne Parnell.

India have no injury worries and could well be unchanged from their win against Netherlands, but captain M S Dhoni has said that off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will get his chance at some point and it could be in Nagpur.

Match Odds
This game has the potential to be one of the best in the tournament and a possible dress-rehearsal for a clash in the latter stages of the knock-out phase. Neither side is on top form going into it. South Africa had a nasty shock against England when their batting collapsed in a heap and even though India are undefeated, the way they overcame the challenges of Ireland and Netherlands was workmanlike but nothing more and they have not yet looked like World Cup winners.

Prior to the England game, South Africa had impressed, particularly in their use of three spinners, innovative tactics from a country renowned for packing their line up with fast bowling all-rounders. But without Imran Tahir, they may struggle to pose enough problems for the Indian batsmen and though Dale Steyn has a good record at this venue, he may not have too much support. It should be a fascinating encounter, but at [1.73] the Indians are worthy favourites.

Top Batsman
Virender Sehwag looked ominously good against the Netherlands and now that he's coming into form, he can be backed at [4.5] to top score for India.

Hashim Amla loves this venue, having scored a double century in a Test match here just over a year ago. He is worth a look at [4.8] to be top South African bat.

Featured Market
As discussed above, Amla thrives on this kind of surface and he should be favoured in the 'Smith v Amla' market at [1.75] or better

Best Bet

Hashim Amla to top score for South Africa at [ 4.8]

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