Faf du Plessis, the South Africa captain, admitted that he is open to reconsidering the team combination of pace and spin, after their experiment of fielding three spinners did not bear fruit in the first Test.
South Africa suffered a massive 203-run defeat in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, October 6, after folding for 191 in their 359-run chase. The visitors did not stick to their usual strength of seam bowling, and instead, included three spinners [Dane Piedt, Keshav Maharaj, Senuran Muthusamy] in the side, a move that did little to negate the onslaught of the Indian batsmen. Rohit Sharma, in particular, targeted Muthusamy and Piedt, raking up runs for most part of the Test, with a century apiece in both the innings.
“He might not always record the most spectacular of figures, but the consistently strung-together collection of key bits make him an indispensable figure.”@aadya_sh analyses Ravindra Jadeja’s latest quietly masterful Test performance.https://t.co/yimtMXm56W
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) October 6, 2019
“Pace of play was really fast and when they [India] got momentum that they had at that stage, it just felt that it was really difficult to stop the scoring,” du Plessis said at the end of play on Sunday. From a combination point of view, it is difficult to say. If you look, apart from today, seamers didn’t play that much of a role in this Test match. One wicket, two wickets maybe in an innings. They played a holding role more in the first four days.”
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“Whether an extra seamer would have made a difference, I am not sure if it would have. Definitely day five, we saw that there was huge value in the seam. Obviously the up and down. But that is something for us to consider now moving into the next Test match. Whatever we feel is our best opportunity in getting 20 wickets because that’s what you need to win Test matches and obviously we couldn’t do in this Test match, couldn’t bowl them out. That’s something we will definitely look at and see how we can counter that.”
However, du Plessis did not express despondence at the loss, expressing confidence in South Africa’s ability to bounce back from the 0-1 deficit. He was pleased with their batting performance in the first innings, wherein they scored 431 in response to India’s 502-7d, on the back of centuries from opener Dean Elgar [160] and wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock [111].
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“I thought it was a real line in the sand for us as a team,” du Plessis said. “Really proud of the first innings, the way we batted. There was an opportunity for us to go the other way and we didn’t. We played really well, senior players put their hands up in Quinny [de Kock] and Dean [Elgar] getting fantastic hundreds and to get 400 in the sub-continent is never anything easy to do. The way we responded, it was brilliant.”
The South Africa skipper was also all praise for debutant Muthusamy, who he considers more of a batting all-rounder, who can bowl a bit. The 25-year-old was unbeaten in both the innings [33* and 49*] and played more than 200 deliveries across innings to help the visitors add on handy runs and frustrate the Indian bowlers.
“He [Muthusamy] played unbelievably well. You could see that technically he is very sound against spin which is something he has worked really hard on. I haven’t seen much of him personally over my career but great to see that he offers us balance. Obviously bowls a bit as well, so it helps.”
Greatness acknowledged ?#INDvSA pic.twitter.com/eplU9sjQLI
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) October 5, 2019
Du Plessis has also backed Temba Bavuma to come good at the No.4 position, which the captain relinquished after Hashim Amla’s retirement, in order to further balance the team and spread the experienced players across the batting line-up.
“The reason why I initially moved to No. 5 was that I was more equipped to play both roles in the middle and in the beginning. When you are batting with the tail, I can take the game on as well. Similar with Quinton [de Kock]. That’s the reason why you try and split up your experienced and your young players up,” said du Plessis.
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“Hash has gone now. Temba has played 30-odd Tests [37] but before it was Hash at 3, the younger batsman at 4, the experience at 5 and then Qunniy with his free-flow at 6. Now that Hash is not there, the reason why Temba is batting at No. 4 is that he is technically a very, very good player. You might say his numbers probably don’t back that up but technically he is one of our better players and we know that. We are just trying to give him that backing that he deserves, the confidence to bat in a big position, at No. 4.”
The second Test begins in Pune on Thursday, October 10.
