Kohli ready for India's crunch clash

London : Virat Kohli says India will thrive under pressure in their make or break Champions Trophy clash with South Africa on Sunday.

After slumping to a shock defeat against Sri Lanka on Thursday, holders India must win their final Group B fixture at The Oval to avoid an embarrassing exit.

India came into the tournament as favourites to lift the silverware, but failure to build on their opening match thrashing of Pakistan has put their title defence in jeopardy.

Although he is well aware of the criticism that would come with elimination at the group stage, India captain Kohli is remaining upbeat and he called on his players to embrace the high-stakes nature of their showdown with South Africa.

"It's become very exciting. Every game is effectively a quarter-final now," Kohli said.

"In our group especially, all teams are on two points, and you have to win your next game to go through, which is an exciting position to be in for all teams.

"It's a great scenario where you literally have two matches now which are going to be even more competitive cricket. 

"So we are pretty clear about the whole situation. It certainly opened up the whole table for sure."

South Africa also come into the final fixture on the back of a defeat, against Pakistan on Wednesday, but Kohli warned his team not to underestimate the Proteas.

"We are against a very high quality side and we have to go out there and play good cricket," he said.

"So there's no room for complacency in a tournament like this, and we as a team certainly don't feel that.

"Even if we had four points on the board right now, we still would have gone out there to try to beat South Africa, and that's exactly the mindset we are going to take into the next game."

Although India posted a solid score of 321 against Sri Lanka, their batsman failed to push on for an unassailable total.

India's bowlers were even more culpable after a lacklustre effort allowing Sri Lanka to win for the loss of just three wickets.