India will take on South Africa in a crunch game in Group B, at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Saturday, March 12. 
The winner of this game is expected to top the group, even though both the teams have more games to play after this encounter.
India are already on top with three wins and a tie against England and will meet the West Indies in their final league game. South Africa are in fourth spot, but have played one game less than India.
South Africa would be keen for a victory here. Their close defeat in the hands of England, in their last game, has once again raised questions on their ability to do well in a major tournament. They would want to shed the tag of chokers and the best way to do that would be to beat the hosts and one of the tournament favorites, India.
India, have had two relatively easy games on the build up to this game, but were made to sweat for in in both of them. They wouldn’t want to get into situations like that against South Africa.
The best bowling combination still hasn’t been identified but the Indians will be happy with the contribution of Yuvraj Singh, who has picked up seven wickets in the tournament so far. Piyush Chawla is likely to get another chance in this game after a better display against the Netherlands.
Ashish Nehra, too bowled well and is likely to retain his place ahead of Munaf Patel, who was excellent in South Africa, just before the World Cup. South Africa will miss the services of the leg spinner, Imran Tahir, who has been a revelation in this tournament for them. He fractured his left thumb in their last game and will be out for ten days.
But Robin Peterson was impressive against England with the new ball and Faf du Plessis was also economical.
This is a game between two equally matched sides and is a close one to call. India have a better batting unit but South Africa’s bowling attack has been the most balanced in this tournament.