ICC World Cup 2019 | It is important for us to stay strong at this time, asserts Faf du Plessis

South Africa have endured a tough outing thus far at the ICC World Cup 2019 having suffered back-to-back losses in their first two games this year. They began with a crushing 104-run loss to England on the opening day while they slumped to a 21-run defeat against a determined Bangladesh side on the weekend.

South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis is adamant that his side still have it in them to turn things around at the ongoing global showpiece event in England. The veteran batsman has said that he is addressing the tense situation in the Proteas dressing room with some strong worded messages to the junior players.

“For me, the natural thing that happens in a team is you find that your confidence goes down and naturally younger guys in the team, coming to their first World Cup, they will potentially go into their self-pity cycle. So, for me, it was strong words in the sense that that won’t be allowed over the next couple of days.

“It is important for us to stay strong at this time. If you do slightly go away from that, then as a team you can crumble and, unfortunately, we are not in a position where we can afford that,” Du Plessis said as per PTI sources.

The 34-year old CSK opener further added that maintaining the positive atmosphere in the team dugout was his primary objective. He added that playing India will be a huge challenge as the two teams gear up to face-off in Southampton on Wednesday.

“For me, that was the main focus...making sure that the guys are still saying the right things in the team, not questioning themselves because then it’s a slippery slope. Then you are just keep going further and further backwards.

“Naturally, what happens is that you have to manage people’s confidence because that’s the thing, especially after the last game. As professional cricketers, we want to do well and win games. That is important that we don’t go take a left turn into negative town (smiling). Stay positive, stay strong and make sure that we keep pushing. But we are playing probably the world No. 2 team at the moment, or tomorrow, and then it’s going to be a huge challenge,” said du Plessis.