Faf du Plessis: Both teams will want to play better cricket

• "The most disappointing thing from a team perspective is that we had India on the ropes and let them back in," Faf du Plessis said.
• "I don't think both teams have played their best cricket, we have been firing at 80 percent," Du Plessis said.
• It's nice to get runs and chip in for the team's total but it's also important for me to make match-winning contributions: Du Plessis.

Faf du Plessis, South Africa's top-order batsman, on Saturday (October 17), conceded that his team had given India a "sniff" back into the series with their batting collapse in Indore. The visitors were riding a wave of confidence after clinching the Twenty20 International (T20I) series 2-0 followed by a five-run win in the first One-Day International (ODI) in Kanpur last week. Du Plessis was also of the opinion that both the teams would be looking to play better cricket having operated at only about 80 percent of their capabilities thus far.

"The most disappointing thing from a team perspective is that we had India on the ropes and let them back in," Du Plessis told reporters ahead of the Rajkot game. "We won the T20I's 2-0 and the first ODI so we had some nice momentum behind us. We have given them a little sniff, its one-all in the series and they will be confident again after the win.

"I don't think both teams have played their best cricket, we have been firing at 80 percent. In the previous game their batting collapsed and so did ours, I think both teams will be looking to play better cricket."

The 31-year old, who has scores of 62 and 51 from the two games in the series, said he was disappointed with himself for not finishing off the game in Indore, having got himself in, and believes that as a number three batsman, he'd ought to kick on and make more match-winning contributions than be content having gotten to a half-century.

"I was disappointed in the previous game," Du Plessis admitted. "As a number three your role is to get big scores. From one aspect it's nice to get runs and to chip into the team's total but on the other hand it's important for me to make match-winning contributions, the 50 in the previous game wasn't that. If I do get into a position like that again I will be hard on myself to try and be more disciplined to try and get the team over the line."

Du Plessis was also grateful for the three-day break between the games on what he called a "long and intense tour" of India. "The amount of mental rest you get is important when you tour India. It's a long tour and quite intense so the last two days have been good in terms of taking the day off to relax, to get some gym work in and to get a mental breather. The guys are ready to go again."