South Africa head coach and former wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has admired the South African team's performance after a 3-0 whitewash against India, after the team went through a period of transition in the last 24 months. The Proteas were hampered by various on and off-field issues during the last two years, but the series win against India will surely provide the Proteas required motivation and will boost them up for good performance in the upcoming tournaments.
According to Boucher, the team had already done enough to be one of the best in the current time, but needed results to make a point.
Boucher's words
"We spoke about our journey and not worrying about the series," Boucher said after the third ODI win, in Cape Town.
“The progression has been great. I think we turned the corner a while ago from a team perspective but obviously we needed the results to back it up.
"We wanted to win 3-0. We've been through the hard times and only once you've been through the hard times do you really appreciate the good ones.
"We appreciate this, but our feet are firmly planted on the ground. This is just a nice chapter in our continued journey. We have a captain in Tembs (Bavuma) that really is demanding on results and that's good," he added.
Multiple problems
South Africa cricket had to suffer on multiple issues in last few years. Retirement of players like AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and many others had left a void in the team as they went through a period of transition. Moreover, issues like racism and administrative problems had also hampered the progress of the team in on-field battles.
"I think you will appreciate that I can't answer that," the 45-year-old said while congratulating the South African team.
"We tried a few things in Covid times. We had to get a deeper squad. We gave a lot of opportunities to a lot of players and I think we are starting to reap the rewards now," Boucher explained.
The Proteas finished the home series against India in an astonishing fashion as they defeated the former World Cup winners by four runs in the final ODI of the series. The crushing blow has left Team India deep trouble as they had earlier lost the Test series 1-2. The Indian team did show some resilience in the final ODI but failed to win it eventually.
