AB de Villiers, South Africa skipper insisted his team will NOT choke as they try to end their World Cup knockout misery in a Sydney quarter-final on Wednesday versus Sri Lanka.
The South Africans have never won an International Cricket Council World Cup knockout game since their tournament debut in 1992, with a series of near-misses leaving them with the undesired tag of “chokers”.
De Villiers told reporters at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Tuesday that he can say is they are not going to choke tomorrow. They are going to play a good match of cricket and come out on top. He thinks they have just got to try and play a good match of cricket.
The in-form Proteas batsman, whose last appearance at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) saw him score a glorious 162 runs not out against the West Indies in the group stage, said that he thinks it is crucial to concentrate on what they have been doing well and try and do that tomorrow. They have certain strengths they like to concentrate on and not focus too much on the opposition.
He also said that they have got to keep things as simple as possible. Hit with the new ball, try and bowl them out, if they bat first get a huge total and put opponent under pressure.
South Africa won 4 matches and lost 2 of their group match. Defending champions India defeated Proteas by 130 runs.
He added that he does not believe they have been awful, he feels they have had a pretty decent World Cup till now, finished second in the pool.
He concluded saying they had a difficult match against India. They have played some good cricket till now. Against Pakistan, he was not too upset about that except for the fact they did not show enough fight with the bat. But they bowled pretty well. They have to win tomorrow. They lost two matches but they are pretty much on track.