JOIN US'Positive frame of mind helped'
“I always go out there in the middle with a positive mindset,” remarked the left-hander replying to a question during his post-match comments. “When I go out to bat, I don’t think of the opposition. Whether it’s Bangladesh and Australia, I’ll have the same mindset for both of them and I think that’s what works for me,” he added.
On his strategy during the innings, Raina said all he was looking to do was play 40-45 balls. “My plan was to bat 40-45 balls and I knew if I do it, I can easily score 80-plus runs,” he pointed out while adding that it wasn’t easy playing strokes in the beginning.
“When I walked in, all I wanted to do was play till the end. I had a good partnership with Yuvraj and the aim really was to hit only loose balls and pick the right bowler to do so. You can’t just walk in and start playing strokes right from the word go,” he offered.
Raina, coming off a successful IPL III campaign for the Chennai Super Kings, dismissed any fatigue factor. “Look, I’m just 23 and I would like to play as many matches as possible. IPL has given us the right kind of practice and it has been a platform for so many youngsters to show their talent,” he said.
Graeme Smith described Raina’s knock as terrific. “It was a terrific knock from Raina. I think he held the innings together and he was playing with great accuracy and power. He exploited our inaccuracy and we played into his hands,” he said.
The Proteas skipper admitted he and Kallis could have showed more urgency. “I guess we left it a little late for the other guys to follow. We could have taken a few chances…yes there a few things to work on for us,” he noted while defending his decision to bowl first.
“That was the right decision and even MS (Dhoni) said he would have done the same thing. There will be some swing initially for the faster bowlers. Look 160 was a par score I thought, but then giving 75 in the last five took it away from us.”
DH News Service