South African pacer Vernon Philander feels that it’s not about Virat Kohli against the South African seamers, but it is more about the 11 players in the team than individuals. Speaking to the media ahead of the first Test, Philander said that the team will be looking to take 20 wickets and not focus on individuals.
Talking about individuals, Vernon said, “We are going to play bat and ball and not playing any names. We got to get Virat as to other nine Indian batsmen as well. I think we put our price obviously on bowling them out twice. They have played most of their games at home so it’ll be interesting to see how they go in South Africa. It’s a total different ball game. We’re going to have to wait and see once they pass the first Test match.”
While everyone is talking about the grass cover on the wicket, Philander said, “I wouldn’t say it’s greener. I have played all my life here. I’ve seen a lot of similar wickets and they haven’t done much. Obviously there’s a little bit of grass there but I don’t think it’s going to scare anyone. Look I think, there’s obviously some grass on that wicket. Then we’ve got to put a combination that’s going to take 20 wickets on there. How we are going to go about it, obviously we have to go and plan and work accordingly.”
When asked if the team would go with a 3-seamer combination, Philander said: “I think, it’s going to come down to the conditions at the end of the day. Obviously, with a little grass on the wicket, who knows on Friday morning if the overheads are playing in favour, then you might consider four seamers. But at the end of the day, our composition of 3 seamers and 1 spinner has worked very well in the last sort of 18-24 months. Look I think it’s a good dilemma to have when you have all your fast bowlers fit and bowling well in all three formats.”
He further added, “You obviously are going to know that you have your work cut out for you. If you’re going to go in with three seamers, it just means that you obviously have to bowl them out. You’ve got to go with that mindset of taking wickets. But it’s still two days out (to the Test) so we’ll see where the wicket is at on Friday morning.”
Talking about comparisons with the previous matches on the same ground, Vernon said, “I think that wicket was a little bit different to what this was, looking like. But like I said, Sometimes you get to Newlands, there’s a bit of grass on the wicket. You might get days, there is grass but it’s absolutely flat. You get some days, the North-Western blows and the ball goes around the park when there’s not much grass on there. Our batters are obviously in good nick. We’re going to respect the Indian seamers, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do. Hopefully our batters can get the runs on the board.”
Praising the youngster, Keshav Maharaj ahead of the series, Philander said, “Keshav has got an amazing record and he’s gelling well with the three seamers that he has with him. He’s a world class bowler and he’s been bowling very well. He’s been bowling well these past 24 months, and I can’t see that changing anytime soon.”
