Skipper Temba Bavuma lavished praise on wicketkeeper-batter Quinton De Kock and his spinners after South Africa beat India by seven wickets in the second One-Day International, in Paarl, on Friday.
Openers De Kock (78) and Janneman Malan (91) excelled with the bat as South Africa easily overhauled India’s total of 287 for 6 and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram remained unbeaten on 37 each.
"Very happy. We wanted to win the series and weren't really expecting it to do after the two games. Lot of positives to take from our performances,” said Bavuma, at the post-match presentation.
Hailing De Kock’s show at the top, he said, “Great to have him in the side. He reminded us again why he is such a valuable player for us.
"As a team we have a lot of self-belief and confidence in our ability. We are not a team that prides itself on having superstars or relying on individual performances. We really try and put in a team effort.
“Coming into this series from the Tests, no-one had much faith in us and that gave us a lot of motivation."
He was all praise for the spinners too.
"The performances in the last month have been really good. Spinners have done a splendid job. It's a great thing. We pride ourselves on fast bowlers, but to see the spin bowlers winning the game for us that really makes us a side to reckon against,” he said.
Looking ahead to the third and final ODI in the series in Cape Town on Sunday, Bavuma said: “I enjoy captaincy; I enjoyed it since domestic cricket. I see it to something to forget about myself and try and see how I can inspire the other guys in the team.
“3-0 sounds a lot better than 2-1."
