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London - As if finding a way to beat India on Wednesday wasn't difficult enough, the Proteas must do so in the middle of an injury crisis that is threatening to fully extinguish their World Cup campaign.
Ahead of the tournament, South Africa's fast bowling unit was billed as their major strength.
Now, after losses to England and Bangladesh have left their tournament on the verge of collapse, they are preparing for India with Lungi Ngidi definitely out with a hamstring strain while Dale Steyn, who has not featured in England yet, is not fully recovered from his shoulder problem.
With opening batsman Hashim Amla still fighting concussion symptoms, it leaves South Africa with just 12 fully fit players to choose from for Wednesday's must-win fixture in Southampton.
More importantly, it leaves them with a severely watered-down bowling attack and if Steyn is ruled out of Wednesday's game when his side needs him most, then the Proteas brains trust must surely think long and hard about calling up a replacement from back home.
"It's tricky, because our resources are slim," skipper Faf du Plessis told media at The Oval on Sunday following his side's disastrous 21-run loss to Bangladesh.
"If Anrich (Nortje) was here, you could say, 'listen Dale, it's getting to that time now where you need to play, or we need to substitute you.'"
Du Plessis was referring to the fact that Anrich Nortje, selected in the initial 15-man World Cup squad as the back-up pace option, was withdrawn at the final hour with a dislocated thumb.
Nortje was 'Plan B'.
He was replaced by Chris Morris - 'Plan C' - who was toothless against Bangladesh on Sunday and showed a fundamental lack of discipline and control.
Without Steyn, South Africa face the prospect of going in with a seam attack comprising of Kagiso Rabada, Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius against India.
While the three allrounders are all accomplished enough, that is hardly an attack that sparks fear into opposition batsmen the way a line-up of Rabada, Steyn and Ngidi would.
"If Dale is fit, he can still make a huge difference to our performance, and we need guys to make differences in this team," said Du Plessis.
"Lungi is also one of them. Lungi will also be the first to say that he has not bowled to his full potential the last two games. He's normally our best line and length bowler.
"He's worked hard on his fitness leading up to this game, but he's also had a lot of injuries over a short period of time now.
"It's important for a young guy to play cricket over extended period of time, not just to play a couple of games, break down, and play a couple of games again."
The performances so far in England have been well below par. Du Plessis has held his hands up and acknowledged as much.
The injuries, however, are out of the skipper's hands and they have come at the worst possible time.
"I can't complain about it. That's not going to change anything. I have to find a way," Du Plessis added.
"It's not going for us from an injuries point of view.
"It was never part of the plan, but that's life. You've got to roll with the punches.
"Plan A is gone.
"Initially Plan B was Anrich Nortje as an extra pace bowler that we had lined up for if we had an injury … to have another X-factor bowler that can bowl 145 plus. He got injured, as well. So now you're moving into your all-rounder territory.
"Now it's reshuffling all our cards and see how best we can deal with it."
Another option Du Plessis has is to field two spinners and call-up Tabraiz Shamsi to accompany Imran Tahir, though that would be a risky call against an Indian batting line-up that is well equipped to handle turn in any conditions.
Further updates on the availability of Steyn and Amla are expected on Tuesday.
@LloydBurnard is in England covering the 2019 Cricket World Cup for Sport24 ...
