JOIN USHaving taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-Test series, South Africa declared that that they won't settle for anything less than a whitewash of India. A visibly delighted Faf du Plessis said he was delighted at the prospect of blanking the No 1 Test team in the world.
"Big time," he said of the potential 3-0 win. "It was the same when we were playing Australia and we were 4-0 up. It's an amazing opportunity - not a lot of South African teams have had it. It makes us even hungrier to go out there as a team, so we're really looking forward to the next Test," said the South African skipper on Wednesday.
While there has not been much difference between the two bowling sides, it's the batting that has tilted the scale in favour of the hosts and du Plessis felt India, as a batting unit, were too dependent on Virat Kohli
"Everyone has chipped in," pointed out du Plessis when asked about the difference between two sides. "We feel as an opposition that India is very reliant on Virat to score runs. So that's the difference. AB has scored runs, Dean (Elgar), Aiden (Markram) and I have scored runs. Everyone has chipped in. The first Test was bowling-friendly conditions where both teams bowled well, but in this Test on a wicket that is not supposed to suit seam bowling a lot, the areas that our bowlers hit…I suppose we've got more pace which helps. They have one or two (quick) guys, where we have three plus Vernon who offers all that control. So, I feel the difference is we don't rely on just one guy - as a team we've been better," he offered.
Du Plessis termed the win here at SuperSport Park "extremely special."
"The previous game we spoke about Newlands that was almost on fast forward so it was an exciting game and this was completely the opposite," he began.
"It needed a lot of grinding, a lot of hard work and a lot of pushing ourselves for longer and longer and that for me makes this Test match incredibly special. The previous one was more of a sense of excitement and the best one to watch but I take a lot of pleasure out of winning games like this, where the team needs a lot of heart and a lot of character and a lot of fight to make sure we get across the line."
Lungi Ngidi, the debutant, was declared the man of the match after he bowled South Africa to victory with a six-wicket haul (6/39) and the young paceman said he cherished Virat Kohli's wicket the most.
"The moment for me I think was the captain's wicket. That was a very special moment and I felt that I had worked hard and sort of figured out a game-plan of bowling towards him. So finally getting that really did mean a lot to me."