To ease pressure, SA switch off on match eve
SYDNEY: It appears South Africa skipper AB de Villiers has taken a leaf out of MS Dhoni’s book. Actually, he has taken it further. South Africa took the day off from practice ahead of Wednesday’s quarterfinal against Sri Lanka at the SCG and de Villiers said it was to take their minds off cricket. No matter how many training sessions India have skipped, they have never taken an off on the eve of the match.
“I just felt it was important not to focus too much on cricket today, sort of get the brain switched off a little bit before the big clash. It’s important for us to be fresh. I believe we play really good cricket when we feel fresh,” he said at the pre-match media conference.
Dhoni has been repeatedly asked what the key to his team’s stupendous turnaround in the World Cup following an ordinary tri-series was. The India skipper has said it was the eight-day break from cricket between the tri-series and the World Cup that did the The turning track at SCG gives SL a good chance. Earlier here, while SL spinners were hammered by Aussie Maxwell, Imran Tahir’s fifer helped SA beat WI. TOTAL SA WON SL WON TIED On the drier side, but should be a highscoring thriller. In case of a tie or abandonment, the team that has done better in pool stage (SA in this case), will advance. L L
(W: Win, L: Lost, T: Tied, NR: No result) Chances of rain, though will not be a washout.
trick. The team has come back fresh for the World Cup.
After defeating South Africa in Melbourne, Dhoni had said three days of high intensity training was SRI LANKA V SOUTH AFRICA 9.00 am, live on Star Sports 1, 3, HD 1, HD 3
good enough for a week instead of six days of just turning up at the nets. Dhoni, for that matter India, have cracked it because considering the relentless cricket they have to play in this age of T20 premier leagues, taking the mind off cricket once in a while has often worked.
India do not have a mental conditioning coach at the moment but playing in the IPL, where most franchises have people like Mike Horn, Jeremy Snape and Rudi Webster to turn to, players are used to listening to these chats and the current lot have figured out their best way to recharge their minds.
POSITIVE THOUGHTS
But for South Africa, crossing this mental barrier is something they are keen to achieve once and for all. “We’ve got Mike Horn here. He brings great energy to the team. He’ll have a bit of a chat with us — he had a chat with the Germans who won the World Cup not long ago, things that worked for them. We can maybe learn a little bit from that,” de Villiers said.
“I haven’t put a lot of emphasis on what happened in ‘99 and 2003, 2007. I believe there’s a lot of different things that we believe in now that maybe were different in the past. All I can say is we’re not going to choke.”