Graeme Smith backs South Africa to win against Sri Lanka on Saturday

Former Protean skipper Graeme Smith backed his side to come out triumphant against their fixture versus Sri Lanka tomorrow at Kennington Oval, London in the ICC Champions Trophy. Both the teams play their first match of the tournament. Graeme Smith expressed his opinions in an exclusive column on ICC website.

Graeme Smith, who is currently part of the elite squad of commentators in the Champions Trophy, believes that the Proetans should not have any excuse for being undercooked in the tournament. South Africans played a three-match ODI series against England which they lost 2-1.

The AB de Villiers led team faced a lot of criticism after not being able finish the match. In pursuit of a mammoth total of 330+, South Africans were all set to chase the total set by English team. However the team failed to score 7 off the final over.

There is no scope of relaxation in the tournament: Smith

“I don’t think the South Africa players who have played in the three recent fixtures against England can have any complaints about the quality of their preparation.” claimed the former South African skipper according to icc.cricket.com. The 36-year further added that there is no room for slow start and relaxation in the tournament as there are only three matches in the group stages.

“The key for them now is to make sure that they are mentally prepared to go against Sri Lanka on Saturday. The format of the tournament doesn’t allow for slow starts, and the one thing I’d have liked to see was South Africa bat first in at least one of those three games.” advised the Protean. He later augmented that Mr 360, the Mighty Hash, and Killer Miller hold the key in the upcoming matches.

“As much as it’s encouraging to have seen both Quinton De Kock and Hashim Amla get scores, I think our strength lies in the top three setting a platform to allow the likes of AB de Villiers, David Miller and Chris Morris to be explosive towards the back end of the innings.” concluded the southpaw. South Africa face India and Pakistan post their fixture against the Sri Lankans.