India No 3 batsman Suresh Raina has insisted that, for them to overcome South Africa at Newlands on Saturday, they will have to be better than they were at SuperSport Park.
Raina couldn’t find fault in their performance on Wednesday, other than that they were beaten by a better team on the day, and for them to win the series, they need to finish well.
Their bowling unit came under a bit of stick after the Centurion game, but Raina did not feel that the bowlers failed to pitch up.
‘We’ve done very well as a bowling unit. We just have to give credit to the South African batsmen. But as far as our bowling is concerned, we have done very well,’ Raina said on Friday.
‘Bhuvneshwar [Kumar] took five wickets, [Jasprit] Bumrah, Hardik [Pandya], [Yuzvendra] Chahal have all done well. Now we have just one more game tomorrow. We just need to go out there, bat well, finish well, field well, because we totally want to win this match.’
South Africa’s Dane Paterson has had a torrid time so far this season, and while Junior Dala has fared slightly better in the last two matches where he picked up a total of four wickets, he too has struggled a little, and Raina added that they were excited to face them again.
‘We haven’t played much against Dala and Paterson. I think we’ve only seen them on TV, and the last two games, and I think it’s going to be exciting tomorrow,’ Raina said. ‘We’re ready to go, and hopefully we will enjoy ourselves and win the cup for us.’
Saturday’s decider, at what is expected to be a packed Newlands stadium in Cape Town, is scheduled to begin at 18:00.
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