Expect a run fest when Australia and South Africa square off on a batting-friendly pitch in Rawalpindi on Tuesday. That both the teams are coming off confident wins is likely to make the contest even more fierce.

Both Australia and South Africa won their opening Champions Trophy engagements. South Africa outplayed Afghanistan, while Australia pulled off a record chase against arch-rivals England.

The winner of Tuesday’s match will be in prime position to move into the semi-finals and that too as the group toppers. So a lot is at stake.

The Proteas look and sound like a confident outfit who mean business. “We’re quite bullish about our chances. Our confidence is good, so we’re quite optimistic about our chances and how far we can go in this competition,” captain Temba Bavuma said on Monday.

Australia too acknowledge the fact that South Africa are strong opponents. “South Africa are playing really good one-day cricket and they look like they’ve got a great balance across their 11 players. We know they’re a great team and they’ll be strong throughout the tournament,” Australia’s Alex Carey said.

The way things stand, one assumes that the team that bowls well will have the upper hand in the match. While the pitch will assist good batting, it will be key for the respective bowling attacks to be disciplined and innovative at the same time to limit the batters.

Both the teams have depleted bowling line-ups, but on paper, the Proteas seem to have better personnel. Led by Kagiso Rabada, the South African bowling attack will hope to fare better than Australia who will have to mostly bank on the pace trio of Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis and Spencer Johnson.

Australia do have the advantage of having the shrewd Steve Smith at the helm. Smith knows how to use his limited resources the best.