Kolkata, Nov 16: Australia are set to face South Africa in the semi-final of World Cup 2023 on November 16, Thursday at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Ahead of the clash of the titans, Australia’s ace pacer Mitchell Starc opened up on facing South Africa in the upcoming match.

“I think looking back at 2015, we probably thought they were the only team that could beat us. Certainly at that stage of the tournament, and we didn’t play them,” Starc was quoted as saying on Cricket Australia.

Interestingly, the 2015 World Cup also had India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand as its semi-finalists. The upcoming match will be the first time Australia and South Africa will be playing a knockout match against each other in the ODI World Cup.

Starc praised South Africa for their performance in the tournament so far and also recalled Australia’s loss against South Africa in the group stage of the tournament.

“South Africa had the better of us in Lucknow early on in the tournament. Both the teams have kept a close eye on each other and a few games back, we knew we were probably going to face each other in the semi-Final. So, South Africa certainly has a potent attack and they are a team,” said Starc.

South Africa had to sweat it out against Afghanistan for a win in their last match. They have a considerably strong head-to-head record against Australia in ODIs and have registered four wins in their last five encounters as well.

The surface at Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens offers a balanced surface for both batter and bowlers. England successfully defended 338 runs against England in the last game here while India thrashed South Africa by 243 runs in the previous games. Batters have enjoyed a good record while batting first at this venue and South Africa will be looking to chase later in this game.

Pacers can expect a good amount of bounce with a new ball as fans witnessed in the last two games but it is likely to be a high-scoring clash on Thursday.