IND vs SA | Either you can disappear or come back stronger, says Faf du Plessis recalling 2015 horror
Faf du Plessis has revealed that he has learned from the mistakes committed by the South African team in their India tour of 2015 and asserted that they will come back stronger in the Test series beginning on Wednesday. This will be South Africa’s first match in the World Test Championships.
“Either you can disappear or come back stronger,” said the South Africa Test captain Faf du Plessis when quizzed about the lessons learned from Proteas’ last tour in India in 2015. Du Plessis, yet to be named skipper then, scoring just 60 runs in seven innings, averaged less than nine in a series which saw South Africa’s batsmen tormented by spin. No batsman from the visiting camp, except AB de Villiers, could manage more than 150 runs across four Tests.
"What Test cricket in general does to you is if there is a flaw in your game, it exposes it. Obviously last time we came here as a batting unit and personally myself found it difficult in tough conditions. The fact is that I needed to get better from a defensive and technical point of view to adapt to play in tough conditions," du Plessis told PTI on the eve of the first Test beginning in Vishakapatnam.
He is among the five squad members who had toured in 2015 including Kagiso Rabada, Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma and Vernon Philander, who played just one Test before getting injured.
This time around, however, it is a fresh bunch of players helped by an Indian in Amol Muzumdar, who is South Africa's batting coach for the Test series. Time is limited but du Plessis feels getting local help can only benefit the team.
"The wickets spun more last time, this time it is not expected to turn as much. It was really dry back then and we struggled despite having an experienced line-up and now we have a young-looking line-up, so there is no baggage.
"These youngsters are motivated to do well in international cricket and this tour will be no different for them," he said.
The series against India will kick-start South Africa's campaign in the World Test Championship which got underway in August this year. Following a disappointing World Cup campaign, the team is back on the road and will also play England and Australia in the next six months. Du Plessis is looking forward to the exciting challenge.
"It is a good time to be involved with a young team. A lot of senior players are out and leadership group has changed completely. Time to grow new leaders, the next set of pacers, the next Hashim Amla. I am excited about that," the Proteas skipper said.
With Philander amongst the runs in the warm-up game, South Africa is looking at playing five bowlers for the first Test which du Plessis believes is one of the options as in India you can score in the first innings before it gets challenging in the second.
"You need more than three or four bowlers. Generally taking 20 wickets wins you Test matches," the 35-year-old asserted.
While South Africa struggled against the spinners last time around and are expected to have a tough time again, du Plessis feels their orthodox left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj can trouble the high-profile Indian batting.
"In the past teams visiting India used reverse swing and extra pace to their advantage. Last time here we felt the ball spun quite a bit and the spinner we have in Maharaj is as good as anyone in the world. He would just be much as a challenge for Indian batters.
"Yes we do have some pace but is about having accurate pace. In subcontinent just pace itself doesn't count for much. You need to be accurate for a long time and make sure that ball does something through the air," he concluded.
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