South Africa Captain Faf du Plessis feels that younger South African fast bowlers can learn a lot of things from Indian speedster Mohammed Shami about how to play well in home conditions. Shami bowled a stunning spell on the fifth day of the first Test that helped India win by 203 runs.
“I spoke to one of our young bowlers too and said to him that it’s a good learning opportunity for you to sit and watch what someone does when they’re on top of their game in home conditions,” Du Plessis said during his pre-match media conference. “Just learn from (the use of) his angles of the crease and how does he reverse the ball. So yeah there’s definitely something to learn from.”
“There’s a huge intensity about his bowling. You are going to bowl short spells in the heat but when you bowl you have to ensure that you bowl with a lot of intensity and maximize it,” the captain said. “He’s a guy that hits the stumps a lot. That’s something from a bowling point of view, we have to make sure, we are better at. In the first innings especially, we bowled wide and therefore they scored frequently square of the wicket. So there are a lot of lessons to learn.”
However, Faf du Plessis talked about the squad as well.
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“For me, it is about picking the team, trying to find guys that can win you matches. So we’ve to find out who are the guys that can pick 20 wickets and who are the guys that can put up their hands and score runs. Obviously, we didn’t get 20 wickets in the previous match and that is something we are trying to fix and get better at in this match. End of the day, that’s what wins you test match. Our thinking will be to pick players that will influence the game and win matches for the team,” he said.
However, Faf du Plessis said that with the World Test Championship on, the game will be interesting. He was a part of the Proteas side that was thrashed by India in 2015 during a Nagpur Test which was finished within two and half days.
“With the Test championship, it has changed. Even in South Africa, if you had a below-average pitch, you probably got a warning whereas now, you have points deducted,” he said. “From the home conditions point of view, I think it is not as obvious as making wickets like the one in 2015. Knowing Indian conditions, the turf is a little more red, so I expect the ball to spin a little more than the first Test.”
“We’ll have to see how the pitch behaves. I am not a pitch expert but I think it’ll take more turn than the first Test,” he concluded.
