South Africa are one of the form teams in the World Cup, but face a desperate Pakistan team in challenging conditions on Friday.

The soaring Proteas face a desperate Pakistan outfit at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai on Friday in their sixth Cricket World Cup match.

Pakistan are sixth on the Cricket World Cup table with two wins and three losses after five matches. Their most recent loss was a shock eight-wicket defeat to Afghanistan and they need a win against the Proteas to keep their World Cup hopes alive.

Skipper Temba Bavuma will return to lead the Proteas after missing the last two matches because of illness.

Bavuma said his side would go into Friday's match with the same mindset that has seen them catapult to second on the table.

"We'll plan for the game how we've been planning for all our games," the skipper said at the pre-match press conference on Thursday.

"We had our meetings today, we went through the Pakistan team, the threats that they bring, their strengths and obviously their weaknesses.

"Probably a basic form is to exploit those weaknesses and nullify their strengths. Pakistan are a dangerous team. We know that they haven't played close to their best, but tomorrow could be that. We'll make sure we are ready for that."

The conditions in Chennai have suited...