World Cup 2019: 4 reasons why India hold the edge over South Africa

#2 India’s settled batting unit vs SA’s wobbly batting line-up

KL Rahul's form at No. 4 will put Virat Kohli at ease and make Indian batting order more intimidating

For the last two years, there were speculations over who will be No. 4 batsmen for India in the World Cup. However, KL Rahul seems to have settled the debate last week when he hit a sublime century against Bangladesh in the warm-up game.

With Rahul hitting form at the right time, India can now boast of the most dreaded batting line-up. Rahul will be well cushioned by Virat Kohli coming in at No.3 and MS Dhoni at No. 5 spots in the batting order. Kohli will hope to make this World Cup his own by being the highest run-getter while Dhoni has already carried his IPL form into the tournament as he hit a scintillating century against Bangladesh.

The only concern is the form of India’s openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma as they failed to get going during the two warm-up games. However, with the team spending almost two weeks in England now, one hopes that both Dhawan and Sharma have ironed out their flaws and got acclimatized with the conditions. After all, it must not be forgotten that it was in England during the 2013 Champions Trophy that Dhawan and Sharma both came together to strike a rich partnership.

If India’s batting order looks threatening, South Africa’s batsmen look in total disarray and Hashim Amla’s concussion has only made it worse. Barring Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis, the batters are all at sea when it comes to dealing with the movement of the ball under overcast conditions. South Africa have also failed to fill the void in the middle order after the talismanic AB de Villiers retired from international cricket last year and will need to figure out their middle order soon.