Unfinished Business In South Africa’s Mind Against New Zealand, Feels AB de Villiers

Feb 11, 2017 at 3:29 PM

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Unfinished Business In South Africa’s Mind Against New Zealand, Feels AB de Villiers

New Zealand defeated South Africa by four wickets on the night of 2015 World Cup semi-finals and believe it, the scars are still fresh in the mind of so-called chokers. South Africa have some unfinished business with the Kiwis, feels AB de Villiers ahead of the one T20I and five-match ODI series against New Zealand, which starts on February 17 in Auckland.

“We’ve got a bit of unfinished business there from the 2015 World Cup and we’re very keen to play good cricket against a team that has also been playing well.”

The Proteas whitewashed Sri Lanka 5-0 in the recently concluded ODI series and will now look to steal the spotlight in New Zealand too. Having stamped their domination in 50-over format with 11 consecutive wins at home so far, de Villiers feels South Africa aren’t done with their streak and have lot to take care of before placing their Champions Trophy plans on the table.

“I think we deserve to be number one and we want to carry on playing the way we have been.”

Having attained No. 1 ranking in ODIs, the skipper said a lot would be expected from them and he believes the team will thrive under pressure to produce some eye-catchy performances.

“Being the number one team in the world people expect you to play a certain level of cricket all the time. But with the team ethic we have at the moment I think we’ll thrive under that kind of pressure. It definitely gives you confidence as well. There’s a reason why we’re number one and that’s because we’re playing good cricket.”

Despite their good run-of-form, de Villiers hasn’t written off New Zealand, realizing they recently defeated Australia 2-0 in the Chappell-Hadlee series. Tagging the hosts as street-smart, the right-handed batsman feels South Africa will figure out the way to expose their loopholes in the series.

“New Zealand are a street-smart team and they find ways to compete but we have a decent record there. The last few tours we have been there we have played really good cricket.”

First of the five One-Dayers between New Zealand-South Africa will be played in Hamilton on February 19.

South Africa’s Squad for New Zealand Tour: 

AB de Villiers (ODI captain), Faf du Plessis (T20I captain), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wicket-keeper), JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Chris Morris, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.

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