India vs South Africa 3rd ODI: Why Indian batters want to make the second powerplay count

Embracing full-throttle attack in the first power-play is passé; the new mantra is all-out aggression and maintaining the impetus of the first power-play in the second instalment too (from 11 to 40 overs), and reaching the crescendo in the third phase, the last ten overs.

In Ranchi, India hit 184 runs; in Raipur, aware of the extra runs they needed to put on, factoring in the onslaught of dew, they shellacked 218 runs, at a shade more than seven runs an over. South Africa were equally destructive in this period (223 runs, for 5 wickets at Ranchi and 231 for 3 wickets at Raipur), those have come in conditions where the bowlers have been totally neutralised because of dew. Besides, they had the luxury of knowing their target and planning accordingly. But those days when batsmen decelerated