Morgan Piek 

Bloemfontein - The Proteas start their ICC Champions Trophy today when they play India in the opening game of the 2013 tournament.

There are still some concerns over the fitness of strike bowler Dale Steyn, who bowled just 5 overs during South Africa’s warm-up game against the Pakistan on Monday.

Proteas captain, AB de Villiers says the team will be riding on their experiences from Amsterdam and the workout against Pakistan for the tournament opener.

Some of the Proteas will have crossed paths with the majority of India’s players during the IPL, an advantage the Proteas will look to exploit.

The Proteas have only played three matches at the Cardiff Stadium, with one win and two rained-out fixtures.

“We come here as a tough team,” De Villiers said. “Mentally we feel ready and we feel strong. I think the other thing that is very good is to have walked into a very good Pakistan team on a wicket that did a bit in the morning. All of the bowlers had a nice work through, it was really good.

“It’s not a bad thing to lose those warm up games,” he added. “It's a bit of a wake up call; it reminds us that this is the time to go. We're in the big tournament now. There is no more room for error. But having said that, we got out of it what we wanted, so I was very pleased with that.”

“It definitely helps from a strategy point of view to have played with a few guys in the past, we get a lot of the information from the other guys that played with them on other teams as well. I don't think there are any ups or downs for both teams. We all know our games, we know the individuals, we know what everyone's capable of. It's a matter of playing together as a team tomorrow and the best team will come out on top,” he concluded.

Today’s match at Sophia Gardens starts at 10:30am…