Laura Wolvaardt reckons home World Cup final will turn up the heat on India

South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt has said the weight of expectation will rest firmly on India when the two sides meet in the ODI World Cup final on Sunday, in front of what is expected to be a packed home crowd in Navi Mumbai. The message she has for her own team-mates ahead of this "tough" game is simple: "slow down, take a deep breath, and stay calm".

"I think [with] the whole crowd behind India, probably a sold-out stadium, it's going to be a very exciting opportunity," Wolvaardt said at the pre-match press conference. "But at the same time, I think it puts a lot of pressure on them as well. They have the whole country behind them, and sort of expect them to win. I think it sort of plays in our favour, hopefully. They're a very good side. We're going to have to play some really good cricket to beat them.

"Mandla [Mashimbyi, South Africa head coach] normally does the really inspirational stuff, the 'you're carrying your country' type of thing. And then I think I'd just come with a little 'stay calm, girls' at the end. There's going to be a lot of noise, a lot happening, a lot of maybe different routines than you're used to in a normal game. But at the end of the day, we're going to have to do the basics for longer throughout the game, and hold the nerve for longer. I think just holding on and staying calm is going to go a long way tomorrow."

Although they will be playing their first ever ODI World Cup final, South Africa have made it to the summit clash in each of the last two T20 World Cups. They haven't been able to take home the silverware just yet but Wolvaardt said the team has learnt from those experiences.

"I think for me, personally, I'm really trying not to think about the result," she said. "I think in those finals - or the first time I was in the final - you automatically think about the trophy and think about winning, and sort of get excited. Now I'm just really trying to stay [in the] present. We still have a really big game ahead of us against a really quality side.

"I'm trying not to think too far ahead; just really sort of slow it down. I think the first time you're in those finals, it feels like a really big, fast-paced event. We're going to need to slow down and take a big breath, and hope we're able to do that as a group."

South Africa's path to the final has been far from smooth. After a 69 all out against England, they bounced back with five straight wins before another collapse of 97 all out against Australia. A superb comeback in the semi-final against England, where Wolvaardt scored 169 and Marizanne Kapp took a five-for, booked their spot in the final.

"I think we don't just lose our skill or gain our skill overnight. It's definitely just a couple of games that we had to put behind us, and we were able to bounce back really well from those two games on both occasions," Wolvaardt said. "I think if we focus too much on that, then it wouldn't have been a good campaign for us. So I think we took the learnings, put it behind us, and just really focused on the next game that we needed to do well [in]."

Wolvaardt believes a World Cup win would be a game-changer for women's cricket in South Africa.

"For us, I think it would just be really special for women's cricket in the country. I can only imagine what something like a World Cup trophy would do back at home, and just the amount of girls that will be able to see it on TV, that'll be able to hear that we're a World Cup-winning nation," she said. "It's hopefully very inspirational.

"I think we've already created quite a lot of noise back at home, and getting a lot of messages from different people who have sort of started watching women's cricket because of this tournament. So that's really cool."