AB De Villiers said he is savouring the extensive Cricket World Cup, ahead of South Africa's blockbuster against India in Melbourne on Sunday.

The middle-order batsman has previously revealed he has little to no interest in other World Cup matches, and he extended on that on Saturday - claiming he believes the ICC's pinnacle tournament was "a journey in life".

The Proteas have never made a World Cup final, losing in the semi-finals in 1992, '99 and '07 - but De Villiers is keen on lapping up life outside the tournament in Australia and New Zealand - in order to be fresh for the knockout stages, which begin on March 18.

He has had the best part of a week to do so, after South Africa opened their tournament with a win over Zimbabwe on February 15 - and have not been in action since.

"I really enjoy the time off," De Villiers told a news conference.

"I mentioned before that the tournament is quite long, but it's also important for me to slow things down and to make sure we enjoy every single moment away from the game and while we're playing. 

"I see it as just a journey in life almost for the team. 

"If we come out on top here, I don't want it to feel like a blur looking back. 

"It must be a really good two months of our lives. 

"If you rush things and you play games every second day, you almost just like the IPL sometimes, it's a long tournament, but you look back and you think, where did those two months go to, you know.

"So I just want to slow things down, enjoy every moment with the team, and enjoy each other's successes, but most important enjoy time away from the game because there's enough pressured moments in the games to really eat you up, and for us to enjoy time away from the game is really important."

A notable asset to South Africa's bid for a maiden title in the 50-over format is ex-rival and consultant Mike Hussey.

The former Australia batsman was a part of the side that denied the Proteas in the '07 semi-finals, but De Villiers said the Western Australian was providing the South Africans with handy advice.

"Everything we covered the last few days when it comes to the analysis of the conditions, what to expect, what not to expect, we covered pretty much all of that, and he was just there to give us some confirmation that we are on the right track," De Villiers said.

"He let us know when we were talking nonsense, as well. 

"It's just nice to have him around, a guy with great experience, a guy that's won a World Cup before. 

"He's a great finisher. He's handled pressure situations really well, and that's the kind of people that we like to have in our squad."