South African skipper Faf du Plessis on Friday said though he has learnt a lot from M S Dhoni during his stint with Chennai Super Kings in the IPl, he would be relying on his own style of captaincy on Friday.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time in Chennai and my time with MS. I have been there now for three years. I have learnt quite a bit from him as a captain. He is a very good and an inspirational leader and he has had huge success for India. His record speaks for itself.“My style of captaincy is completely different to his,” Du Plessis said when asked if he has learnt some tricks of the trade from Dhoni.Du Plessis termed India the favourites while calling his team underdogs. “We felt a couple of times before that this was our time. India are still regarded as one of the favourites and we have played pretty much through the whole tournament as underdogs.
“We have been playing very well as a team and we have had different guys performing in every single game, so we are not relying on someone. It’s important to play the key moments well. It is a high pressure game and if you make the right decisions on the day you will be on top,” he said.
Du Plessis admitted that India would have an advantage going into the match having played all their matches at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium here. “It’s a huge thing. The wicket at Dhaka is completely different to Chittagong. We have played all our games there (Chittagong) and India have played all their games here.
“From a conditions point of view, they are much more used to them than we are and we have put in some really hard practice to speak on really abrasive surfaces making sure that we almost over-practised against the ball that is turning too much,” he observed.
Du Plessis said that one should not try and read too much into Shane Warne dropping in at the South African nets on Wednesday. “It wasn’t our decision. I think it was Warne’s decision. He thought he wanted to come and bowl a bit and bowl a few balls to us. Obviously, it was nice to have him around as he has been such a fantastic bowler. We certainly didn’t request him to come and bowl.“I wasn’t there when he was speaking with Imran (Tahir),” Du Plessis replied to a query.
we don’t carry baggage of failures: R Ashwin
Claiming to be at the top of his game right now, Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday said he is not bothered by competition breathing down his neck as his endeavour is to improve himself.“To be really honest, I’ve never bothered about who’s behind my shoulder. That’s not how I play my cricket. I believe in improving every day, and I don’t say it just for the sake of it,” Ashwin replied on being asked about competition from leg-spinner Amit Mishra.
“Unless you don’t keep improving, you’re not going to last the distance. You lose out. It’s pretty much like a business model, that’s how I view it. Somebody’s behind my shoulderIJ They can stay there. I’ll just keep doing what I do best,” he added.
Having got two man-of-the-match awards in last two matches, the Tamil Nadu tweaker said that he is “at the top of his game” currently.“In the last two or three months, I feel that I’m probably at the top of my bowling game. When I reach that phase, I pretty much don’t practise at all. That’s a phase I’m in right now. The ball is landing exactly where I want it to land,” he said.
Talk about going into a knock-out match against South Africa on Friday, Ashwin said pressure will be on the Proteas. “Most of these guys (Indian team) are involved in the Champions Trophy, so that’s one experience everybody can draw from. Apart from that, the one thing that the young side will have an advantage over the other teams, is that we don’t carry any baggage (of failures). We’ve not lost big competitions, there will be no scars with us. We have nothing to lose,” he said.
“We never walked into this tournament as favourites, and we wouldn’t want to be tagged as favourites. We just go in and enjoy ourselves,” he added.