A great place to start, says Faf
by Telford Vice,
2016-03-18 05:00:00.0
THE last time SA played a proper game at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the groundsman had a strip torn off him about the strip in the middle.
But, that was then — in October, when the one-day series against India was on the line.
This is now. SA play England at Mumbai’s glitziest ground on Friday in their first World Twenty20 group match.
"Wankhede is so close to our conditions back home, so it’s a great place to start," Faf du Plessis said on Thursday.
"I do feel that this is one of the grounds in India, where there is a bit in it for the bowlers as well — if your bowlers do the right things.
"If you take a lot of wickets up front it’s difficult (for the opposition) to get back in the game. There is a bit of bounce, a bit of swing; the ball travels, the wicket is good.
"Spinners are not as much in the game as they would be on other grounds in India. But, that’s the great thing about a tournament like this: you have variety."
Not quite five months ago, SA won that deciding one-dayer on a Wankhede pitch that played less like the compacted cat litter
Indian surfaces often are and more like it had been dropped in from the Wanderers.
That prompted India’s team director, the larger-than-life, but smaller than his own moustache Ravi Shastri, to become his best caricature of himself.
Whatever Shastri said to the groundsman Sudhir Naik, the latter took enough exception to lay a complaint of verbal abuse.
Not that Wankhede’s groundstaff seem to have learnt their lesson. On Saturday, SA beat India at Wankhede again, although in a warm-up match.
But, the pitch prepared for the game between England and the West Indies on Wednesday was a belter. Of course it was: India were not playing. Of course, Chris Gayle was playing — and he smashed an undefeated 100 off 48 balls.
Gayle is another challenge for another day. Next Friday, in fact, when the Windies will be SA’s opponents in Nagpur.
The here and now is that SA are up against an England team that, having been beaten by six wickets on Wednesday, are on a slippery slope to an early return home if they do not win on Friday. That makes them more dangerous than they were when SA beat them 2-0 last month in a T20 series tacked onto the end of a long tour.
Besides, a team harbouring Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Joe Root must be respected.
And even with Gayle going huge, Chris Jordan and Moeen Ali kept their economy rates in the single figures.
SA have won 15 of the 21 T20s they have played in Asian conditions, but no one needs reminding that they have become less than the sum of their parts whenever the International Cricket Council have dangled a major trophy in front of them. And this is the big one.
If one player can buck that trend, it is AB de Villiers.
"What makes him so good, is he doesn’t rely on one or two areas," Du Plessis said. "As a batsman, the more options you have, the more successful you can be."
De Villiers has as many options at the crease as Shastri has hairs in his moustache. He scored a century in that October one-dayer and in his four T20 innings at Wankhede, all for Royal Challengers Bangalore, he has made 155 runs — 133 of them in one innings.
And here we are, back at Wankhede and back in tournament mode. It is that time again.
WAY TO GO: Faf du Plessis feels the Wankhede pitch has something to offer the bowlers. Picture: AFP
THE last time SA played a proper game at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the groundsman had a strip torn off him about the strip in the middle.
But, that was then — in October, when the one-day series against India was on the line.
This is now. SA play England at Mumbai’s glitziest ground on Friday in their first World Twenty20 group match.
"Wankhede is so close to our conditions back home, so it’s a great place to start," Faf du Plessis said on Thursday.
"I do feel that this is one of the grounds in India, where there is a bit in it for the bowlers as well — if your bowlers do the right things.
"If you take a lot of wickets up front it’s difficult (for the opposition) to get back in the game. There is a bit of bounce, a bit of swing; the ball travels, the wicket is good.
"Spinners are not as much in the game as they would be on other grounds in India. But, that’s the great thing about a tournament like this: you have variety."
Not quite five months ago, SA won that deciding one-dayer on a Wankhede pitch that played less like the compacted cat litter
Indian surfaces often are and more like it had been dropped in from the Wanderers.
That prompted India’s team director, the larger-than-life, but smaller than his own moustache Ravi Shastri, to become his best caricature of himself.
Whatever Shastri said to the groundsman Sudhir Naik, the latter took enough exception to lay a complaint of verbal abuse.
Not that Wankhede’s groundstaff seem to have learnt their lesson. On Saturday, SA beat India at Wankhede again, although in a warm-up match.
But, the pitch prepared for the game between England and the West Indies on Wednesday was a belter. Of course it was: India were not playing. Of course, Chris Gayle was playing — and he smashed an undefeated 100 off 48 balls.
Gayle is another challenge for another day. Next Friday, in fact, when the Windies will be SA’s opponents in Nagpur.
The here and now is that SA are up against an England team that, having been beaten by six wickets on Wednesday, are on a slippery slope to an early return home if they do not win on Friday. That makes them more dangerous than they were when SA beat them 2-0 last month in a T20 series tacked onto the end of a long tour.
Besides, a team harbouring Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Joe Root must be respected.
And even with Gayle going huge, Chris Jordan and Moeen Ali kept their economy rates in the single figures.
SA have won 15 of the 21 T20s they have played in Asian conditions, but no one needs reminding that they have become less than the sum of their parts whenever the International Cricket Council have dangled a major trophy in front of them. And this is the big one.
If one player can buck that trend, it is AB de Villiers.
"What makes him so good, is he doesn’t rely on one or two areas," Du Plessis said. "As a batsman, the more options you have, the more successful you can be."
De Villiers has as many options at the crease as Shastri has hairs in his moustache. He scored a century in that October one-dayer and in his four T20 innings at Wankhede, all for Royal Challengers Bangalore, he has made 155 runs — 133 of them in one innings.
And here we are, back at Wankhede and back in tournament mode. It is that time again.
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