Quinton de Kock, the South Africa batsman, has been in spectacular form this year. He came into the IPL, where he plays for Mumbai Indians, having churned out runs for his national side in the ODI home series against Sri Lanka. He scored 353 runs at an average of 70.6 to be the highest run-getter from either side as his team won the series 5-0.
If de Kock was the standout, plenty of Proteas players made hay, with four others averaging over 50. Compare that to their ODI series against India roughly a year ago when their batsmen struggled and the team lost 5-1 in home conditions. Hashim Amla was the highest-run getter for them that series, reaching 154 runs from six innings at a woeful average of 25.66.
Attuning to spin, and more specifically wrist-spin, will be of chief importance to a lot of batsmen. “I think guys that are not from the sub-continent, we come here to the IPL [to] learn as much as we can,” said de Kock on the eve of Mumbai’s match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, referring specifically to training against spin.
“Obviously, it’s always a learning curve for all of us … especially India, they’ve got some up and coming really good spinners, very wily [with] what they’re doing with the ball, they know how to bowl, their control is very good. So [it’s about] just trying to learn when you’re playing against them, how to play them. And hopefully we’ll take that into the World Cup and come out on top.”
The likes of Kuldeep, Chahal and Rashid have shown that they can cause troubles even on relatively fresh, batting-friendly wickets. One suspects that in a tournament set to last 45 days, they will receive only more aid on wearing pitches. The need for batsmen to make last minute preparations for the challenge that awaits can’t be overstated.
