World Cup: One thing we have never lacked as South Africans is belief

South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada believes he is ready to lead a rejuvenated South African attack to their first ICC Menrsquos Cricket World Cup trophyThe Proteas failed to advance beyond the group stage in the last edition of Menrsquos ODI World Cup 2019 but are yet to taste a series of defeats in ODIs this yearldquoOne thing we have never lacked as South Africans is belief so going into the tournament we do believe we can win itrdquo said Rabada during the press conference here on ThursdayAlso ReadPakistan is a weaker team than India at this moment says Waqar YounisldquoWersquove got the players to do so so hopefully we can make our first final and win this competition Itrsquos going to be hard but itrsquos going to be really enjoyableldquoItrsquos exciting to have the best players in the world playing against each other and competing for one prize and we are up for the challengerdquoInjuries to fellow quicks Anrich Nortje and Sisanda Magala have dealt a blow to the teams hopes but that has done little to quell Rabadarsquos optimism whose side began their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka in Delhi on 7 OctoberThe fourtime semifinalists struggled in 2019 but have since risen to fourth in the ICC Menrsquos ODI Team Rankings and are full of confidence after a 32 series victory over AustraliaTwentyeightyearold Rabada who is one of eight survivors from the squad who competed in England four years ago is relishing the responsibility of being one of the teamrsquos elder statesmen and helping captain Temba Bavuma plot the teamrsquos path to successldquoThe 2019 World Cup was my first and I wasnrsquot successful at allrdquo Rabada continuedldquoThe lesson I took from that is that team cohesion is the most important factor because individuals donrsquot win World Cups teams do The older I have become and the more caps I have the more I realise that I am a leader in that environmentldquoThrough knowing my own strengths and reinforcing them knowing what makes me tick and through lending an ear to other players I want to help set how we play as a collectiverdquoRabada also boasts a strong knowledge of subcontinent conditions having excelled across several seasons in the Indian Premier League IPL Proteas has played 11 whiteball matches in India since 2022 and he feels their collective experience could set them apart from the restldquoIt does help when you understand the conditions in the various grounds and having played in India for all these years it gives you a familiarity on how to go about your tacticsldquoThe majority of our team has played in India but for those who havenrsquot played as much it is important to share experiences In India you have drier conditions and they are batterfriendly wickets so itrsquos about finding ways to be successfulManaging the noise and distractions is really important and I think itrsquos just about focusing and not letting the crowd get to you But at the same time it is exciting to be playing in packed stadiums with tens of thousands of screaming fans itrsquos an honorrdquoProteas will be playing warmup against Afghanistan on Friday here at Thiruvananthapuram followed by New Zealand on October 2This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever