Proteas eye India scalp after early setback has them primed

South Africa will enter their ICC Women's Cricket World Cup contest against India believing they can propel their campaign into a position of strength despite their 'horrible' start to the tournament.

All-rounder Nadine de Klerk spoke to media ahead of the Proteas' matchup with India, adding to the adjectives to describe their batting capitulation against the English.

"We just had a horrible day and there was no one that put their hands up and kind of just got stuck in the middle," she said.

"There's been a massive hype about this World Cup and you rock up and you get rolled for 70, which is never nice. And I think everybody took it quite personally. But we know that happens in cricket sometimes, so I think we moved on pretty quickly."

Given their response against New Zealand, there is reason to believe South Africa indeed "moved on" and can be a key player at the Cricket World Cup 2025, showing they are capable of overcoming pressure and adversity.

"We know coming to a World Cup, there's going to be a lot of ups and downs and I think obviously didn't get off to our ideal start against England," de Klerk continued.

"I think this World Cup is all about fight and character at the end of the day and I think we've shown that in the last game. We've really enjoyed our tournament this far. Obviously had a great game the other day against New Zealand and I think there's just a good vibe around our side. So, it's just about finding a way and I think to come back after that, the second game has been incredible.

"You have to be at your very best from the first game, and we weren't against England and we got put under pressure, so I think it was just an eye opener and we have to be ready for every single game we play."

South Africa's World Cup draw has been a baptism of fire, having to play England, New Zealand and now India. And on top of their 'ups and downs' so far, they have had to endure their fair share of travel; Guwahati, then Indore and now Visakhapatnam for their first three games.

But their journey so far has helped them focus on continuing to adapt to the subcontinental conditions and make note of the trends that have emerged as the tournament continues to unfold.

"We've had a lot of travel and stuff going up and down, but I think as a team, we just trying to control the controllables," she continued.

"We had a couple of discussions just around game plans and how we're going to go about it ... spinners are going to dominate. It's going to be really important this World Cup (and the pitches are) a bit on the slower side and taking quite a bit of turn.

"I think this World Cup it might look a bit different, to be honest. It looks like (they are) not the easiest of wickets to bat on. It's still about finishing games off, but it might not be the same in terms of trying to strike at a high strike rate and putting teams under pressure. The tail enders or the back-end batters (have) been in quite early, so it's just about adapting to the conditions and building a partnership with whoever's in there and try and take games deep.

"It's not necessarily been 300 plus scores, so I guess it's about just scrapping all the runs you can try and get to a competitive total and then, yeah, obviously back our bowlers to defend that."

India are unbeaten from two games so far, but believe their best cricket is in front of them.

"It's scary for the opponents to know that we have not had our perfect match yet," batter Jemimah Rodrigues told media.

"But we are still on the winning streak. We are still waiting for that perfect match to come. And I think such tournaments because it's so long, it's important to peak at the right time. But like I said, we have so much more confidence knowing that till the end we have batters and everyone's a match winner."

Matches with Australia and England come next for India, but they are trying to remain locked in on the Proteas right now.

"We are just taking one game at a time," she continued.

"t's just another game of cricket. As a batter, it's simple. I have to react and play according to the merit of the ball. As a bowler, it's simple. I need to bowl to my plans. What is in our control is how we prepare well with our plans and how we come out and execute that well."

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