 Dhoni hopes to survive do-or-die match against South Africa
20th Sep 2007 15:00 IST
Agencies
The morale-boosting win against England may have brought back smiles to the Indian camp but captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni warned his teammates that they have a tough task Thursday when the side locks horns with South Africa for a semi-final berth of the Twenty20 World Cup.
"We have another do-or-die match tomorrow and it would be a tough game," Dhoni said after India beat England by 18 runs to stay afloat in the tournament.
"They would definitely come up with new strategy, specially for the boys who are batting well and the bowlers who are doing well.
"So I think we have to respond in a positive way. We need to trust and back ourselves and go out with positive thoughts," he added.
Dhoni heaped praise on Yuvraj Singh for his match-winning 16-ball 58 but also mentioned that it was the 136-run opening stand between Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir which had laid the foundation for a big total.
"We got a good start, and we knew if the openers saw the first couple of overs, we would get in a good position. Both Sehwag and Gambhir did well and we capitalised it in the middle over. And it was superb finishing by Yuvraj in the end."
Dhoni said he was eyeing a total around 180 but Yuvraj's sterling knock took it past the 200-mark.
"The way we started, I thought we would get 180. You don't get six sixes in six balls but what Yuvi did was excellent for the team and we were fortunate to get a 200-plus score," he said.
continued.. |
