“We had less pressure because no one expected a lot from us back in India,” Dhoni said after India hit the top of Super Eight Group E with a commanding 37-run win over South Africa on Thursday. “Once we lost to New Zealand, every match had become a must-win situation for us. From there, we played professional cricket to get to where we are today.”

Put in to bat, India posted a challenging 153 for five, and their bid to defend that score received a shot in the arm when Dinesh Kaarthick took an exceptional catch at second slip to dismiss Graeme Smith. Soon afterwards, man of the match Rohit Sharma came up with a stunning direct hit to run Justin Kemp out. “Those were very good efforts,” Dhoni acknowledged. “When we took the field, I don’t think we were hundred percent certain that we would win. But those kind of efforts really charge you up. Everyone gave his hundred percent and more on the field.

“When we arrived in South Africa, one thing I knew for sure was that we would be a very good fielding side,” Dhoni said, referring to the profusion of fresh, young legs as opposed to the England tour. “We didn’t have much experience of Twenty20 cricket, so I didn’t know about the batting and the bowling, but the way the guys have adapted has been amazing. And the fielding has been very very good.”

What did he think was a good target here? “I knew that if we bowled well and got some early wickets, we had a chance of creating pressure on them. All their batsmen are stroke-makers, and it is not easy for them to change their style of batting if they lose early wickets. Once we sized up the conditions, I knew that 135-plus would be a decent score to defend. We have troubled them in the past with swing -- both in Ireland earlier this year and in the Twenty20 game in Johannesburg last December. I was sure that if we got off to a good start with the ball, we could put them under a lot of pressure.”

Next up for India are World champions Australia, in Saturday’s semifinal. “We definitely know the wicket and the conditions here in Kingsmead,” said the Indian skipper. “If there is grass on the surface, we won’t really panic. We have an advantage in that we have played three games here, but ultimately, it all depends on how well you play that day.”

India have two injury scares to contend with before Saturday -- Yuvraj Singh’s left elbow and the skipper’s lower back. “Hopefully, both of us will be fine by Saturday,” he remarked. “We decided at the last moment to leave Yuvi out, given the volume of cricket lying ahead of us. I didn’t keep after two overs as a precaution. We were lucky that we had the luxury of having Kaarthick, a specialist wicket-keeper, in the eleven.”