ICC World Cup 2019 | Imran Tahir has single-handedly made us a strong team, reveals Faf du Plessis

After a string of disheartening defeats, South Africa finally managed to taste victory, which came against Afghanistan on Saturday. South Africa folded Afghanistan for a paltry total of 125 on the back of amazing spells from Chris Morris and Imran Tahir. Du Plessis stated that Morris and Tahir played a key role in the middle overs and the wily leg-spinner has strengthened the side over last two years.  

“Given the nature of the wicket, conducive for seam bowlers, it would have been a challenge. It was important to get a good start, the wicket was not very conducive to spin. Morris and Tahir were fantastic in the middle overs as they got wickets. He (Tahir) has single-handedly made us a strong team in the last two years with his ability to take wickets in the middle overs,” Du Plessis said in the post-match presentation. 

Quinton de Kock played a good knock and was well supported by Hashim Amla. The latter has had a terrible run in recent times and this innings will only infuse confidence in him for the upcoming games, where South Africa need to win every fixture. Both Amla and de Kock will have a key role to play if South Africa are aiming to better their run-rate and make it to the semi-finals.   

“Naturally Quinton plays quite freely but it was important for him to see off the new ball. We needed a 60 or 70-run stand upfront and we could have worked on the run rate later. It was important for Amla to get amongst the runs, he will be important for us in the upcoming games. In the next four games, net run rate is not going to play a massive role if you win those games. So we need Hashim to score runs for us, hence he needed a not-out innings today,” Du Plessis added.