Confidence from this win is huge, says Smith

South African captain Graeme Smith said the thrilling three-wicket win over India here Saturday will give them much needed confidence in the World Cup.

“For 25 overs up front we took a beating, but for the other 75 we came back really hard and showed some real fight. The guys showed a lot of composure, it was helluva noisy out here.

“Dale Steyn bowled well, and to chase down the runs under pressure is great. The confidence you get out of a win like this is huge. I haven’t seen Robbie [Peterson] hit the ball that clean in a long time, we’ve backed him in this world cup and he’s performed.

“We can get on a run now, we’ve had long breaks between our games but we’re playing every three or four days now,” he said.

Steyn, who picked up five for 50, said after his first five overs he was staring down the barrel.

“But we pulled it backed beautifully. A great team performance. Once we picked up one wicket, we picked up another and we started build up pressure and a wave of energy on the field that we could capitalise on,” he said.

Robin Peterson, who finished it off in style, said he was extremely ecstatic at the moment.

“To have a great game with so many great innings was such a good advert for the World Cup. I’ve got to give Johan [Botha] credit, he put them under pressure with that cameo. We were quite calm in the changing room, but it was nice to come out on the winning side!” he said.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni blasted his players for playing to the crowd.

“What is important is you don’t play for the crowd you play for your country. We should have batted the full fifty overs. If we could have fielded better we could’ve made the score look bigger, but we’re not a side known for our fielding,” he said.

“We just needed the bowlers to bowl in the right spot, but they were under tremendous pressure. The batsman played well, and if you’re not bowling in the right spot more often than not you get hit.

“Bhajji was the only other choice for the last over, but I thought it would be better to use the seamer. Maybe I was wrong, but I thought that was the better option,” he said.