A few days back, South Africa and New Zealand were involved in a fierce contest where the former eked out a narrow win. That too was a World Cup, not cricket though, as the Springboks claimed the rugby crown with a 12-11 victory over the All Blacks in Paris.

On Wednesday, the two nations would lock horns again, this time in World Cup cricket, in Pune. As was the case in the rugby final, in cricket too it is set to be a thrilling encounter as the race for the semi-final enters the business stage.

Both, the Proteas and the Black Caps have had a good tournament so far. Their respective last matches though brought contrasting results. While South Africa escaped with a one-wicket win over Pakistan, New Zealand fell agonisingly short while chasing 388 against Australia.

On the points table, Temba Bavuma's South Africa are ahead with 10 points from six matches as compared to New Zealand's 8 from the same number of games.

Given how both the teams have played so far, it will, in all probability, be a case of who has the bigger batting muscle. The South Africans have looked dangerous with their monstrous totals, though they have floundered on a couple of occasions. New Zealand too have capable and powerful batters.

However, the pitch in Pune might test the batters and so things might not be that straightforward.

South Africa will expect to have Kagiso Rabada back after the pace spearhead missed the last game. Rabada's presence is necessary in the South African bowling line-up to guide the likes if Gerald Coetzee and Marco Jansen. New Zealand have their own pace battery to unleash and leading them will be Trent Boult.

In the spin department, it will mostly be a battle of left-armers. Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi have served the Proteas well, but New Zealand's Mitchell Santner is no less skilful.