The skilled spinner insists their first lack of the World Cup has completed little to dampen the SA crew’s title hopes.
Though he admits they felt gutted after a shock defeat to the Netherlands earlier this week, spin bowler Keshav Maharaj says the Proteas have collected themselves and are ready to face England in a key fixture on Saturday on the Cricket World Cup.
Having been handed their first lack of the match, Maharaj stated yesterday they had been assured of regaining their momentum against the defending champions in Mumbai.
“After the (Netherlands) game the boys were hurting, but it’s part and parcel of being a professional sportsman. I think we woke up the next morning and the guys were rejuvenated and ready to go again,” stated Maharaj, who scored a career-high 40 runs with the bat and took his fifth wicket of the match against the Dutch aspect.
“It’s a massive game for us against England, so the boys are ready to hit the ground running.”
Turning the ship round
The skilled spinner claimed that they had not taken a psychological knock after dropping to the Netherlands (ranked 14th on the earth), insisting it had completed little to dampen the SA crew’s title hopes.
“You’ve got the strongest 10 teams in the world playing in this event and you can’t really deem a team to be a ‘lower’ team,” Maharaj stated.
“Any loss within the World Cup does damage considerably, however as skilled athletes we’ve acquired to mud ourselves off and realise the subsequent day the solar goes to come up.
“We’ve got to stick to our processes and discipline, be true to our team culture and make sure we turn the ship around.”
Still on monitor
After dropping to the Netherlands finally 12 months’s T20 World Cup, the Proteas crashed out of the match.
At the 50-over showpiece in India, nevertheless, that they had six video games left within the spherical robin stage and remained on monitor for a spot within the playoffs.
Maharaj stated they hoped to make amends for his or her shock loss by recovering against England, who had been additionally handed a shock defeat by Afghanistan earlier within the match.
“The last time we lost to Netherlands it knocked us out of a World Cup,” Maharaj stated, “but this presents us with another opportunity to try and rectify that and hopefully get back to winning ways this weekend.”
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