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‘The pitch was harder than Durban and the spinners used it’
Wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have so far proved to be unplayable against South Africa in the ongoing ODI series and India captain Virat Kohli is confident that they can extract turn from any surface.
The Centurion pitch offered ample assistance to Chahal and Yadav as India dismissed South Africa for 118, their lowest total at home. Chahal ended up with a career-best five for 22. The visitors eventually cantered to a nine-wicket win in the second ODI to go 2-0 up in the six-match series.
"The pitch was harder than Durban and the spinners used it. We knew we won't get grass on the pitch because when it's seaming, it can be anyone's game. We knew the wickets would be hard and dry and knew our wrist spinners can get it to turn anywhere. They just didn't give South Africa any chance," said Kohli as the post-match presentation.
The Indian captain had no hesitation in opting to chase.
"If we set up to chase down totals, we know exactly what we want to do. Rohit and Shikhar's intent at the top is crucial. They started off well in the last game too.”
"We back guys to play positive cricket. It's (2-0) a wonderful position to be in. We know their middle-order was inexperienced, and we wanted to to cash in on that."
Stand-in captain Aiden Markram said batsmen let his team down.
"Not the best performance today. It's a day about which we have to be really honest with ourselves. There were too many soft dismissals starting from myself.”
"It was always going to be difficult to defend (118) but look, the day is over. We can't afford slip-ups now. It might bring out the best in us," he said.