It didn’t take long for Faf du Plessis to be asked about South Africa’s chokers tag upon arrival in India for the World T20.

During Du Plessis’ arrival press conference, he asked whether South Africa performances in previous ICC events bothered him as well as the chokers tag which has haunted the team for years now.

‘Not at all,’ he said when asked about previous performances. ‘T20 cricket is such a on-the-day performance. It’s how you react to different pressure moments within the game. There is already so much to be worried about for me personally and I know for this team that’s not something we even talk about or think about. From a spectator point of view and a media point of view there will once again be a lot said about it.

‘We’ve shown for a period of time now that we perform better in pressure moments. And we’ve done that well as a T20 team especially. I like to think that we have over come that mental hurdle,’ he said.

About the chokers tag Du Plessis said: ‘The only way you’ll get that monkey off your back is if you do win a trophy.

‘This team hasn’t been thinking of that at all. We’ve played well in pressure moments leading up to the tournament is that is the only way you can get rid of that is to perform under pressure.’

South Africa play their first warm-up game against India on Saturday afternoon.