Defending champions India on Sunday outclassed South Africa in all departments of the game in a must-win encounter to enter the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy with a comprehensive eight-wicket win.
Their captain Virat Kohli played down the significance of South Africa's reputation for under-performing in big games. I mean, Bumrah as you know, is always very consistent, but I think the way Bumrah bowled, as well, really tightened things from both ends.
Today, those key moments in the game where you look for someone to take the initiative just seemed to pass South Africa by. "As I said, even the last game we discussed about the part-timers (bowling Kedar Jadhav) and he is the one who mentioned it, and then I thought, yeah, why not". We are asking everyone to do it and everyone is responding really well.
Five of the Proteas top six batsmen did a reasonable job, scoring three fifties and a century between them in the three matches played.
Smith opened up on his team's form and current performance and said the Proteas missed the spark in the prestigious tournament.
Defending champions faced off against world no.1 team South Africa in a Group B clash, and the victor would progress to the semis. Kohli acknowledged the amount of one-day cricket played in the region was a factor, but he has also been impressed with the way India have adapted to the English conditions. That didn't happen, and this cautious style of play that seems to lack the intent that we've seen from the same players previously, is what puzzles me the most.
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The team bowled almost 24 maiden overs, an example of their stranglehold on the opposition batsmen.
The defeat kept South Africa's choker's tag in tact but De Villiers, who scored only 20 in three games, defiant.
Every time South Africa turn up on a cricket field, they look like the quintessential squad where team spirit and conviction run deep. However, the 33-year-old insists he is still the right man to prepare the side for the 2019 World Cup.
India's new 'King of Death' Bumrah said he has been picking Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kohli's brains. We wanted to improve our fielding, it was something we required and before we went out we had a chat in the huddle and I said I wanted everyone's intensity to go up, that is a conscious effort we have to make.
"Through soft dismissals we lost our way and that was the part that hurt the most".
There's nothing I can say here that's going to change anything except for that I still believe I can and hopefully I'll prove that tomorrow.
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