India will take on South Africa on Sunday evening under the lights at the Optus Stadium in Perth. This is the third match of both teams in the Super 12 round.
India has 4 points having won both the games – vs Pakistan and the Netherlands – while South Africa have 3 points – having shared a point with Zimbabwe due to a washout before defeating Bangladesh.
Because Pakistan has lost both their matches so far, this match is important in the context of the semi-finals race: for a change, Pakistani fans are hoping for India to defeat South Africa, which will keep Pakistan alive in the semis race. A win for South Africa will bring them closer to sealing a semifinal spot.
But the challenge of batting and bowling in the Perth conditions awaits both teams. More so for the Indians: their batters will face arguably the best fast bowling attack of the tournament on the fastest and bounciest pitch in the tournament, and their bowlers barring Mohammed Shami and Ashwin have little to no experience of bowling in Perth.
Speaking to The Indian Express, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Brad Hogg, and Misbah-ul-Haq explained what the Indian players need to do in order to adjust quickly to the Perth conditions
Sachin Tendulkar cautioned the Indian batsmen.
“Arre yaar, lagta toh jaata tha (Had it connected, it would have flown), the batsmen would say after getting out, going for big shots. But nahi lagta, tabhi toh you get out; lagta doesn’t matter. Be smarter! There would be some lateral movement. There is a bit of unknown there (playing cricket in Australia in October),” the batting great says.
How to tackle the bounce? Misbah answers: “Don’t be late with the weight transfer as Asif Ali has been for example. Quick, precise, early movements, and be still when the ball climbs.”
Brad Hogg, the former Australia spinner who played his cricket in Perth for Western Australia, has been left surprised by the lack of swing movement early on in the matches at this venue so far.
“I was a little bit surprised. There hasn’t been much swing here at Perth stadium either, especially in the first innings. And that surprises me as well, because the BBL team Perth Scorchers generally get the ball to move around.Also, when you’re bowling second, there just seems to be a little bit more seam movement off a length. But I don’t know whether that’s because the team bowling second has realized that if you go full, it’s going to be easy to get driven. So they do go for that hard length a lot earlier than the first team,” Hogg said.
Hogg cited the example of Zimbabwe defending 130 against Pakistan to explain that fast bowlers keeping back-of-length has worked well.
“Take that Zimbabwe versus Pakistan game. Zimbabwe bowlers were absolutely sensational. Good hard Test match lengths and kept it tight with pace,” Hogg added.
Hogg also warned the Indian batters who will be facing the high pace of Anrich Nortje. Hogg reckons the backfoot game of the Indian batters needs to be sharp against the Protea seamers.
“Definitely. I don’t think you can afford to be full here at Perth Stadium. I someone like Anrich Nortje whom India are going to face on Sunday, I’d expect him to be bowling more balls at high pace. The only time he would go to a slower ball is if the batsman’s footwork is a little bit uncertain, not moving his feet. Then a full slower one makes the batsman just bob it up to the infield catchers,” Hogg says.
“It’s the tennis-ball bounce,” Misbah said, epitomizing the general feeling around the Perth pitch.
Hogg recommended the batsmen strictly lower their backlift a little.
“I have observed that the batsmen still come here with a bigger backlift of the bat (instance). If you’re new to the particular surface, lower your back lift down a bit and focus on timing. So that means that you’ve got to have good footwork, good balance, and just hit through the line of the ball. If you do that, I think you’re going to survive a lot more and you’re going to have high strike rates,” Hogg said.
Sachin Tendulkar suggested a nugget that many would miss out on: ”You have to hit with the breeze. The wind factor becomes crucial in Australia.”
