Knockout games different than league, South Africa will start afresh against India: Wolvaardt

Navi Mumbai, Nov 1 (PTI) The dynamics of playing a World Cup knockout games are entirely different and South Africa will not rely on their recent record against India in the Women’s World Cup final, said Proteas skipper Laura Wolvaardt here on Saturday.

India, who are in an ODI World Cup final for the third time, have lost each of their three matches to the Proteas since 2017 which includes their narrow three-wicket loss at Visakhapatnam earlier in the league stage.

Wolvaardt, the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 470 runs, recalled India batter Jemimah Rodrigues’ incredible 127 not out against Australia in the semifinal to prove her point.

“Knockout cricket is completely different to league cricket. We’ve seen people are able to do some very special things in knockout games like we saw from Jemi the other night,” Wolvaardt told the media here on Saturday.

“I don't think we're going to be looking into our group game against them. We know we have to play some really good cricket. They're a really strong side and have just come off of a really good game as well, so they'll be high on confidence.

"We can't sort of bring any of our history into this game, whether it would be finals that we've lost or games that we've won against India, we're just really trying to erase all of that stuff and start completely afresh," she added.

South Africa will be up against not just an Indian team chasing their first World Cup title and their first win over the Proteas in the tournament since 2005, but also a packed home crowd.

“It's going to be a very tough game with the whole crowd behind India, probably a sold-out stadium. It's going to be a very exciting opportunity, but at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on them (India) as well,” Wolvaardt said.

“They have the whole country behind them and are sort of expected to win.

“It's going to be a really big crowd — probably the biggest crowd that a lot of our girls have not played in front of — a lot of eyeballs on the game, a lot of added pressure,” she added.

When asked what it would take to silence the Indian crowd, Wolvaardt replied, "Hopefully we win. I guess that will silence them.” With neither Australia nor England featuring in the final of the 13th edition, the Women’s World Cup, which began two years before the men’s event in 1973, reflects the growth of women’s cricket, Wolvaardt said.

“It just shows how much the women's game is developing and how different countries are being able to use new resources and develop really good quality cricketers,” she said.

While the Proteas are set for their maiden ODI World Cup final, they have also made it to the summit clashes of the last two T20 World Cups but lost each time.

“I'm really trying not to think about the result in those finals or the first time I was in the final, you automatically think about the trophy and about winning,” Wolvaardt replied.

“The first time you're in those finals it feels like a really big, fast paced event, whereas we need to all slow it down and take a big breath and hopefully we're able to do that as a group.” Wolvaardt also said she’s not the one with big speeches in dressing room, highlighting the impact of head coach Mandla Mashimby on her side.

“Mandla normally does the really inspirational stuff, that ‘you’re carrying your country’ type of thing. I just come in with a little ‘stay calm girls’ at the end. I think it'll be super important for us to just stay as present as we can tomorrow,” she said.

“There's going to be a lot of noise, a lot happening, a lot of maybe different routines than you're used to in a normal game. But it's just a game of cricket and whichever team is able to do the basics for long and sort of hold their nerve for longer.” PTI DDV ATK