India have been in imperious form so far in the tournament. They opened their campaign with a commanding 64-run victory over Pakistan at Edgbaston in Birmingham before producing another dominant display at Headingley in Leeds, crushing the Netherlands by 95 runs.

South Africa, meanwhile, have endured a far more turbulent start to their World Cup journey. The Proteas suffered a heavy 65-run defeat to the world No.1-ranked and six-time champions Australia at Old Trafford before grinding out a nervy two-wicket victory over Pakistan in Birmingham to get their first points on the board.

Chloe Tryon - Morgan Piek

The South Africans will, however, draw confidence from their most recent meeting with India. The Proteas claimed a series victory over the Indians on home soil in May, a result that proved they have the quality to challenge one of the tournament favourites.

Veteran all-rounder Chloe Tryon admitted the team had not started the competition as they would have liked but said the squad remained upbeat and determined to play the aggressive brand of cricket that has brought them success in recent years.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations,” said Tryon.

“Obviously, we didn’t start the competition the way we wanted to, but we want to play to our full capabilities. We know what this team can bring and the brand of cricket we play is very aggressive.

“We can’t focus on what’s happened already. It’s about how we improve. We probably haven’t played our best cricket yet. We got over the line against Pakistan, but it was still a little bit nervy.

“We’re still very positive. We’ve had some really good chats about how we want to approach the game. We’re going to treat it like any other match, but we know that if we play the cricket we’re capable of, we can put ourselves in a strong position.”

Annerie Dercksen - ICC

Tryon also acknowledged that South Africa’s batting unit has yet to fire collectively, something that has limited captain Laura Wolvaardt’s ability to play with complete freedom at the top of the order.

The hard-hitting all-rounder believes building partnerships will be the key if the Proteas are to challenge a powerful Indian side.

“You always want someone like Laura facing as many balls as possible,” Tryon explained.

“As a batting group, we probably haven’t rotated strike as well as we should have and we haven’t built enough partnerships. I believe you win cricket matches through strong partnerships and that’s something we’ve lacked so far.

Laura Wolvaardt - Morgan Piek

“We know our capabilities. We’ve spoken a lot about how we can approach different situations and how we can encourage each other in the middle. It’s about building partnerships, staying calm and not overthinking things.

“The biggest thing for us is keeping it simple.”

With both teams possessing explosive batting line-ups and world-class bowling attacks, Sunday’s encounter promises to be one of the real humdingers of the group stage.

The clash between South Africa and India gets underway at 15:30 at Old Trafford, with the Proteas knowing a victory could breathe fresh life into their World Cup campaign.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport