ICC CWC 2023: "We have had different people contributing....": SA's Rassie ahead of match against NZ

New Zealand will take on South Africa in their World Cup encounter at Pune. New Zealand lost a high-scoring encounter to Australia by just five runs and with four wins, two losses and eight points sits at the third spot in the points table. SA last defeated Pakistan in a thriller and with five wins and a loss, sits at second position in the table with 10 points.

"Yeah, I would say I am relatively pleased (with his form). I have had innings or two where I have contributed. And I think the really positive thing about our batting lineup at the moment is different guys are contributing. Obviously, Quinny (Quinton de Kock) is the leading run-scorer and Aiden is right there. But around them, we have had different people contributing in different times and that is really reassuring for us as a batting unit to know that on different days, different guys might fill up different roles and carry the responsibility. But yeah, I am reasonably pleased that as we hopefully go into the business end of the tournament now, you want to be really at 100 percent. I think most of our guys are in a pretty good space," said Rassie in a pre-match press conference.

Quinton (431 runs in six matches, with three centuries), Aiden Markram (356 runs in six matches with one century and three fifties), Heinrich Klaasen (300 runs in six matches with one century and fifty), and Rassie (220 runs in six matches with one century and fifty) have been standout batters for SA so far.

On the team's losing streak against New Zealand in World Cups since 1999, Rassie said that it is all in the past.

"It feels like that question could have been asked a few days ago as well - with regards to Pakistan. So no, no chat really about that. I mean, that is all in the past. We do not really carry any of that with us. Tomorrow is a new game. Two pretty strong teams on form going against each other. So, it should be a really good day," said Rassie.

On whether the team thinks that tomorrow's match is about who plays who in the semifinals, Rassie said that there have been some upsets in the tournament and it has been unpredictable so far.

"None at all. I think the beauty of this World Cup has been that there have been some upsets. It is really difficult to predict who is going to be there and how the results are going to unfold. So certainly, in our camp, there's no real chat about it. We really have been good in taking it one game at a time and it is no different for tomorrow. There's a much stronger focus on focusing on our processes and how we want to go about that. We HAVE fallen short at times and we have been really good at times. And sort of shutting out all the World Cup permutation, if I can call it that, we have been really good at," said Rassie.

Rassie said that after the upset loss to the Netherlands, there was a lot of flak from the media back home but one has to accept losses and move on.

"From our side, you realize that there are people at home and fans that have been really scarred by previous performances of South Africa and World Cups. And you cannot really criticize them for feeling that way, for criticism to come from, I suppose, a place of hurt where they have seen that movie before. But personally, and I think it goes for about probably most of the people in our squad and management team, that we have not lived that. So, it is not really applicable to us," he added.

New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Will Young.

South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Lizaad Williams. (ANI)