World Cup head-to-head: South Africa have 3-1 advantage over India

Bengaluru, May 14: India will be last team to launch their campaign at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 since they had to observe a minimum gap after the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which finished on May 12.

Virat Kohli's men will play their first game against South Africa at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on June 5.

For the Proteas though, it will be the third game of the competition.

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India last met South Africa in a six-match series on their soil which India won 5-1. The last five matches have seen India winning four and losing one. Overall, however, South Africa have 46-34 lead over India in 83 games with three matches ending without a result. At the World Cup, India and South Africa have met four times with the Africans leading 3-1.

Here, we look at the brief results of all India-South Africa games played at the World Cup since 1992 when they first met:

SA beat India by 6 wickets; league match; Adelaide; March 15, 1992

It was an academic game for India in that tournament as they were already out of the race for the semifinals. Yet, Mohammad Azharuddin's men wanted to end with a win and in the 30-over game that they played because of rain. South African skipper Kepler Wessels won the toss and sent India to bat. Sanjay Manjrekar opened the innings with Krish Srikkanth (0) and scored 28 off 53 balls. He added 78 runs with Azharuddin (79) for the second wicket and after Sachin Tendulkar fell for 14, Azhar added 71 runs with Kapil Dev (42 off 29) and in 30 overs, India ended at 180 for six. For SA, Allan Donald and Adrian Kuiper took two wickets each. The target was a competitive one, but the 128-run opening partnership between Andrew Hudson (53) and Peter Kirsten (84) made the chase easy. SA lost some wickets in between but Wessels (9 not out) and Hansie Cronje (8 not out) guided them home with six wickets and five balls to spare. Kapil, Manoj Prabhakar and Javagal Srinath took a wicket each. Kirsten was the man of the match.

SA beat India by 4 wickets; group match; Hove; May 15, 1999

As is going to be in 2019, India played their first match of the 1999 World Cup held in England also against South Africa. Captain Azharuddin won the toss and elected to bat first. India made a steady start with Sourav Ganguly (97) and Sachin Tendulkar (28) and then Rahul Dravid chipped in with a fifty. However, India failed to capitalise in the last 10 overs and ended up at 253 for five in 50 overs. Lance Klusener was the pick of the South African bowlers with 3 for 66. The Indian bowlers started off well by taking three wickets for 68 runs but Jacques Kallis's 96, Jonty Rhodes's 39 not out and skipper Cronje's 27 ensured a South African win with more than two overs to spare. Srinath took two wickets and Kallis was the man of the match. This game is known for the infamous earphone incident in the South Arican camp.

SA beat India by 3 wickets; group match; Nagpur; March 12, 2011

This game was a battle for supremacy in the group stage between India and South Africa. Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. The home team had a tremendous start with openers Virender Sehwag (73) and Tendulkar (111) putting up 142 runs for the first wicket in less than 18 overs. Gautam Gambhir next chipped in with 69 and added 125 runs for the second wicket with Tendulkar. However, just when India looked like building up a big score, they collapsed. The hosts started losing wickets in a heap once Tendulkar departed and could not last the full 50 overs! India were all out for 296 in one of the biggest collapses in the history of the tournament. Seamer Dale Steyn ended with 5 for 50 and spinner Robin Peterson took 2 for 52. Graeme Smith's batsmen relied on team effort instead of individual brilliance and three fifties from opener Hashim Amla (61), Kallis (69) and AB de Villiers (52) took them closer to the target. India pegged SA back by taking some wickets towards the end but Johan Botha's 23 and Peterson's 18 not out stole the game away from them in the final over which was bowled by Ashish Nehra. Harbhajan Singh was the best Indian bowler with 3 for 53 while Munaf Patel took 2 for 65. SA won by 3 wickets and Steyn was the man of the match.

India beat SA by 130 runs; group match; Melbourne; February 22, 2015

India had just beaten thumped their arch-rivals Pakistan and took on the Proteas in the second game at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat. Shikhar Dhawan slammed 137 in 146 balls to hold the innings together while Kohli hit 46 and Ajinkya Rahane slammed a 79 in 60 balls. Dhoni scored 18 off 11 and India posted a total of 307 for seven in 50 overs. Mornie Morkel was the best SA bowler with 2 for 59. SA were doing the job cautiously but at 108 for two, skipper De Villiers was run out on 30 and it was a downhill drive for the Proteas from there on. Only Faf du Plessis scored a fifty (55) and SA were all out for only 177 in just over 40 overs, losing by 130 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin took 3 for 41 while pacer Mohit Sharma took 2 for 31. Dhawan was the man of the match.