South Africa look to tackle Indian spinners in T20 series

SA skipper Temba Bavuma wants the top-order batting to settle down during the five-matches as the team builds up for the T20 World Cup in Australia.

It was only inferior net run rate that kept South Africa out of the T20 World Cup semi-finals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year, finishing behind England and eventual champions Australia in their group despite winning four of their five matches.

Mark Boucher and Temba Bavuma (R) during a training session (Getty Images)

Since November 6, when they beat a fancied England by 10 runs at Sharjah, they haven’t played a single T20I though.

The South Africans return to T20 action on June 9, taking on India at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in New Delhi in the first of five T20Is. With another T20 World Cup on the horizon—in October and November in Australia—South Africa are keen to capitalise on whatever game time they get, though the conditions in India could be vastly different from Australia.

“There is still a lot of benefit in playing (after a long gap). Any type of competitive cricket will be good for us,” SA skipper Temba Bavuma, who arrived in India with the team earlier in the week, told a virtual media interaction on Saturday. “We will be using these games to familiarise ourselves with how we go about playing our T20 cricket and getting guys to understand their roles in the team. There is a lot for us to achieve from this five-match series.”

Bavuma will have pleasant memories of leading South Africa to a 3-0 clean sweep over India in an ODI series at home in January. The Proteas also came from behind in the Test series to win 2-1.

With India playing England in the decider of a five-Test series—they lead 2-1 after the final Test last year was postponed due to Covid—at Edgbaston from July 1-5, skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are among those rested for these T20s. KL Rahul will lead the team. Bavuma expects no drop in India’s standards.

“For us as a team, we won’t be looking at the series any differently. You might see a couple of younger players getting an opportunity for us as well. We will be as motivated as ever going into the games. India’s competitiveness will be there,” said the 32-year-old batter.

One of the areas Bavuma wants to address is their top-order. While Quinton de Kock is one of the best T20 openers going around, the SA captain is hoping that Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen provide greater support and stability at the top.

“We need to solidify our positions from a batting point of view, more specifically at the top. Our top three is where we would like to get more clarity. Our middle order is settled and we have a nice set of all-rounders,” he said.

Part of the challenge for the likes of Hendricks, van der Dussen and Bavuma, who don’t feature prominently in IPL, will be to counter the spin threat of in-form wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. Both had excellent IPL seasons, claiming 27 and 21 scalps for Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals respectively.

“It is always a challenge playing spin in Indian conditions. It helps that we have played against them a couple of times. It also helps that we have a better understanding of conditions in India. Players have their individual ways of approaching spin. But the way we have played spin bowling over the past 18 months, we have the belief that we can dominate,” said Bavuma.