Faf du Plessis : In the sub-continent, drawing a series is as good as winning a series

Faf du Plessis : In the sub-continent, drawing a series is as good as winning a series

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Faf du Plessis has urges South African players to make better decisions ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka and claimed that the tour would be a success if they managed to draw the series. Du Plessis heaped praise on Sri Lankan bowlers and asked his batsmen to trust their defence.

The Proteas were a long-term threat to sub-continent teams as they had never lost a series since late 2006 in Asia until a strong and determined Indian team beat them 3-0 in a four-match series in 2015. The South Africans were definitely second best in their recent 278-run loss against Sri Lanka, which meant that the home team now lead the series 1-0 ahead of the second Test in Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club which will begin on Friday.

However, visiting captain Faf du Plessis remained confident in his team’s ability to turn things around against the Lankans in tomorrow’s crucial Test match. Du Plessis also went on to claim that due to the tricky conditions in the sub-continent, even a draw in the ongoing series would be considered as a success.

“I thought in the first Test, we were quite off the boil in a lot of areas,” du Plessis admitted. “We have been also a team that starts off late unfortunately. Then we start making better decisions. Hopefully we can do that in this Test match although we know its going to be tough. We are looking forward for the challenge. 

“The record is something that we are proud of. It is never easy winning away from home. When you are coming to the sub-continent, drawing a series is as good as winning a series. It’s tough and that’s what the best teams do. We need to get to that number one position in Test cricket.  In order to do that, we need to make sure we compete,” Du Plessis told WisdenIndia.

Du Plessis also congratulated the Sri Lankan bowlers, who put in a superb performance in the first Test, especially the spinners. But he also urged his batsmen to trust their defensive shots ahead of the match.

“I thought SL spinners bowled really well and that’s what we expect in these conditions. The thing that let us down in the first Test was that we didn’t trust our defence well enough. The important part of playing spin in Test cricket is trusting your defence. Obviously, we need to try and put pressure back on the spinners as well with what you are doing. The guys worked really hard on their game plan and are trying to be positive against spin, which is an element of playing spinners well. You have to also trust your defence so that’s two parts.

“That was the difference between how Sri Lanka played spin and how we played spin. Especially Dimuth Karunaratne, who didn’t take too many risks. He just played with good defence. If you take him away, I think both teams struggled to play spin well,” du Plessis added.

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