We want to just focus on enjoying our cricket, claims Faf du Plessis

South Africa are one of the few top cricketing nations across the globe who are yet to lay their hands on a major ICC trophy across all three formats. They have managed to reach the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup on four separate occasions but are yet to make the finals.

Faf du Plessis & Co. will look to prove their critics wrong as they work towards abolishing the tag of ‘chokers’ in the upcoming 2019 ICC ODI World Cup which is scheduled to start on May 30. The Proteas skipper is adamant that his side are just focused on enjoying their cricket in the coming weeks.

"We haven't always got that right in the past, to play our best cricket at the World Cup, because we put so much pressure on ourselves. We want to just focus on enjoying our cricket.

"There's a reason why we want the guys to play freely - because we don't want them to have a fear of failure, which is what the World Cup is for some of them. Our success in England over the next couple of months depends on how well we release that aspect of our play - we need that for the team to be at our best. Each player needs to find out his own strengths," Du Plessis said as per PTI.

Du Plessis took over the Test captaincy in December 2016 and assumed full-time captaincy in all formats of the game in August 2017 after former skipper AB de Villiers stepped down from the post. The 34-year-old batsman hoped to use his own experience to help his teammates tackle the extreme pressure of a top-level international tournament.

"We started a year or two ago with a real focus on mental preparation and, as a captain, I probably speak more about that than previous captains. But I really believe it's an area we can get better in. I've been there and I know the pressures, I understand how to deal with them," he added.