COLOMBO, 25 September — With their morale skyhigh after the superb victory over England in the last Pool 4 match on Sunday, a confident India take on South Africa in the first semifinal of the ICC Champions Trophy Cricket Tournament at the Premadasa Stadium here today. Unwilling to get into a false sense of security and complacency, Saurav Ganguly and his men were sweating it out for over two hours yesterday morning at the stadium’s practice arena under the watchful eye of coach John Wright.

The ‘Little Champion’ Tendulkar seemed particularly determined as he was the first to don the pads and batted diligently for nearly half an hour. He displayed some fluent drives and cuts but it was the reverse sweep which he kept playing, indicating a new addition to his rich repertoire of strokes. Ganguly said his team had a good chance of winning against South Africa. “We have played well in the last seven, eight months. We have won chasing very big totals so that naturally boosts our confidence,” Ganguly said while talking to journalists after the team practice.

He said among the top teams in international cricket, it is difficult to predict who is going to win. “Whoever plays better on any particular day is going to win. What we do tomorrow will matter,” said the “Prince of Calcutta” who tried his hand at bowling leg-breaks in the nets.

While he was happy with the batting display of the team, including his own fine form with the bat, it was the bowling that was worrying him. “We have to bowl better than we did against England, especially the spinners,” he said. Ganguly denied that he had underbowled himself against England. He also said that the team would continue to make Dravid keep wickets.

“Yes, Dravid is going to be our wicketkeeper in the long-term scheme of things,” he added. He admitted that South Africa was a better bowling side than England. “We have to be more careful against South Africa but I don’t think we attack from the outset. Unless, of course Sehwag gets going like he did against England,” he explained.

The India-South Africa semifinal is a repeat of the last ICC Champions Trophy clash between the two teams in 2000 in Nairobi. On that occasion India had won, only to lose to New Zealand in the final. So South Africa will be looking to avenge that defeat though overall they have a better head-to-head clash record against India. In 42 meetings between the two teams, South Africa won 27 and India 14, while one was abandoned as a draw.

South African captain Shaun Pollock said the clash against India will be a great game. “We are pretty confident and so are India after their big win over England though we were a bit rusty in the last pool match against Kenya,” Pollock said while speaking at a news conference at the Taj Samudra Hotel yesterday.

“India have a good batting lineup so we will make sure that we bowl well against them,” he added. When asked whether South Africa had made and tactical changes after watching Sehwag blast the England attack, Pollock replied: “No, we have not really done that. Sehwag batted very well against England and there is nothing that we have planned against him.”

Pollock did not think winning the toss was important. “It does not matter who wins the toss and who bats first. Both teams will get the chance to bat once,” he explained. Pollock admitted that the team was facing injury problems. Allrounder Nicky Boje has a hairline fracture in his finger and fast bowler Alan Dawson has a right calf injury.

“We have got replacements in fast bowler Steve Elworthy and uncapped allrounder Robin Peterson. But we will review the injuries and will take a final decision after the nets in the evening,” Pollock said. Fast bowler Allan Donald, who was also present at the news conference, admitted that the niggling knee injury has been bothering him.

“It is sore one day, then it goes away. I have to take it day by day,” he said. When asked whether the match was a clash between Indian batting and South African bowling, Donald replied: “It will be a clash between our bowling and their batting and their batting and our bowling.” While South Africa had escaped by the skin of their teeth against the West Indies, winning off the last ball in the first pool match and then defeated Kenya comfortably, India got a narrow victory over Zimbabwe despite Andy Flower heroics and then comprehensively beat England to emerge on top in the toughest pool of the competition.

The battle of titans will be a clash worth going miles to watch and on what seems to be a general agreement, the better-performing team on the day will emerge victors. They will await the winners of the second semifinal between hosts Sri Lanka and world champions Australia scheduled for Friday.