“We have lost to Pak in few semi finals and we want to change that," explains Vettori

It is particularly satisfying for me as a captain and for us as a group to bounce back after the loss against South Africa in our first match and come through in two must-win games to make the semifinals of the Champions Trophy.

We knew after the South Africa game that we had to beat two different sides on, as it turned out, two different surfaces at the same ground. To make 315 against Sri Lanka and then to bowl England out for 146 on a Wanderers track with something in it for the faster bowlers meant two good all-round displays, and we will take some confidence with us going into the semifinals.

What makes the last few days even more satisfying is that we have had to play without key players in Oram, Ryder and Tuffey. It is becoming something of an unfortunate trend with us at big tournaments; it happened at the World T20 in England as well. Saying that, it’s nice to see us come together even without some important players and make it through to the next stage despite the pressures of a must-win situation after our loss to South Africa.

As I write this, I am not sure who our semifinal opponents will be – Australia, Pakistan or India. At one level, it doesn’t matter who you want to play, but it will be interesting if we run into Pakistan. We have lost to Pakistan several times in the semifinals of major competitions, and it will be nice to rectify that notorious reputation and get into a major final after quite some time.

We will be playing our semifinal at the Wanderers on Saturday, and a lot really depends on the kind of wicket we get. In our two matches here, we have had to play on two completely different pitches, but at least we have had the experience of having played on both of them. It will be up to us to adapt to whatever is put out in front of us.

I know a lot has been made of our decision to call back Paul Collingwood. The good thing for us was that because it went to the third umpire, we had time to deliberate on the situation. We just wanted to get on with the game and not have to tread through a minefield if we had decided to uphold the appeal, because it was obvious for everyone that Paul was not looking for a run.

I have since been asked if the incident at the Oval when Colly was the captain and Grant Elliott was run out after a collision with Ryan Sidebottom didn’t play on my mind. It might have if Paul and I hadn’t played together in the IPL. I got along well with Paul in those two months with the Delhi Daredevils, and to me what happened at the Oval was water under the bridge. As a team, we were in a good space at the time when the Colly incident happened on Tuesday, and we didn’t want anything hanging over our heads going into our semifinal game.