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South Africa‘s commanding performance continued as they decimated New Zealand by a resounding 190 runs on Wednesday, securing the top position in the World Cup standings with an impressive four-match winning streak.
Their next challenge will be against India, setting up a top-of-the-table clash in Kolkata on Sunday. Despite India’s formidable record and reputation, van der Dussen expressed the team’s readiness for this significant encounter.
“Obviously, playing India in India is a massive event. They’ve been playing really well. A lot of experience in their team. They’ve got all bases covered, brilliant bowling attack and obviously the batting as well,” said van der Dussen during a post-match press conference.
“But again, we’ll go into that game knowing that if we do the things that we want to do, we’ll be in a really strong position. The challenge is to be under pressure, to stay with that, and that’s what we’ll look to do. But we’ve played them here before and we’ve beaten them here before.”
South Africa, despite their consistent strong performances in international cricket, has yet to secure a major tournament trophy. However, they have displayed peak form in this ODI World Cup, notably recording three of the six highest scores in the tournament.
Van der Dussen emphasised their approach, saying, “What we’ve done really well in this campaign is we’re really just focusing on what we want to do and how we want to play it.”
“In our match review meetings, we keep looking at the numbers with the coaches and so far in this tournament, by most metrics, we’re stacking up pretty well. So, at the end of the day, it’s almost irrelevant who’s in front of you. We know if we play the way we want to play and execute how we want to and take the correct options, especially under pressure, then the result is a byproduct of that.”
South Africa’s strength has undoubtedly been their formidable batting unit, as evidenced by their remarkable statistics. They had the fewest dot balls and yet the most boundaries of any team in this World Cup.
World Cup 2023: South Africa defeat New Zealand by 190 runs
Van der Dussen explained, “I think that’s a result of what we want to do when we’re out in the middle. We talk about assessing the conditions and what’s the correct option and always having the correct intent.”
“Our approach differs throughout the innings, considering options and intent, but we know that if we can follow through with these principles, we naturally put ourselves in a better position to score and to position the ball where we want to.”
(With inputs from PTI)
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