Desperate to win ODI series, says Ten Doeschate

For India, the ODI series has been the Virat Kohli show so far but South Africa have shown that it will take more than that to defeat them.

- HT Correspondent

Part of that confidence will be stemming from their superb show in the Tests where they blanked India. But the depth of their batting lineup and the great batting tracks seen in the first two matches have meant that every total has seemed chaseable. That aside, the competitiveness of both teams has given the series a serious edge and from India’s perspective, a “desperation” too. “It’s a very different personnel of players but the guys are very aware of the responsibility of what they're representing,” India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said on Friday on the eve of the series-deciding third ODI.

KL Rahul's side won the first match at Ranchi by 17 runs but SA pulled one back at Raipur with a four-wicket victory. “We always want to win but, yeah certainly, when a few losses do start stacking up and performances have been below what we expect from ourselves, it’s a slight desperation from the series point of view,” he added.