Herschelle Gibbs has to be the dark horse in the race for being the best batsman of the tournament. He is in superb form, as the recent ODI series in Zimbabwe suggests. Gibbs has always promised much but has not delivered enough for the South African team. His ODI record is more than a decent one for an opening batsman, 2296 runs in 73 matches with an average of 33.27, including six centuries and ten fifties.

Against India, he has scored 538 runs in 12 matches at an excellent average of 48.90. Gibbs has never played against India at home and he has a great chance of extending his record against India by the end of the tri-series. South Africa will also heavily rely on Jonty Rhodes and Lance Klusener to score quick runs.