ICC World T20: South Africa banking on strong batting line-up
South Africa skipper Faf Du Plessis says his team’s batting firepower is dangerous for the rivals at the World Twenty20 as they gear up to clash with England, in Mumbai on Friday.
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Du Plessis said the team has enjoyed success at the Wankhede stadium and those good memories will spur them on to put up another good show.
“Definitely, AB (De Villiers) is in good form at the moment and playing some good cricket. And past performances play a massive role when you come to the ground. As few of us did well against India in the final match in ODI series (played at the Wankhede stadium), and you use that to reflect on and try to repeat that performance,” Du Plessis told reporters at the pre-match media conference.
He said not only AB de Villiers but other batsmen in the side are also in good form.
“Looking forward to see what AB (De Villiers) does for us in the tournament, but as I mentioned we have a few guys who are looking good and whole batting line up looks in good form and it is a dangerous sign for the opposition, it’s just about putting together on the day,” Du Plessis said.
The 31-year-old though said the teams in their group England, Sri Lanka, West Indies are tough and they need to grab the momentum early.
“It is such a short tournament, you have to hit the ground running otherwise you can find under pressure and its tough opposition every game,” he added.
Du Plessis also opined that the conditions at the Wankhede stadium were similar to what they get back home.
“It is a great ground and place to start our campaign. This ground is close to the conditions that we get back home. Obviously the people here, the crowd, not all of our players have got the opportunity to play T20 in a stadium like this, so we are looking forward to and excited and I hope it is going to be great game,” he added.
Du Plessis also said that both Chris Gayle and De Villiers have similar styles of batting.
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“I suppose to succeed there has to be an element of setting up yourself as a batter, you never really see Chris go from ball one and just like smashing, he definitely sets up himself up first and that’s the same with AB. He plays best when he accesses the condition and see what’s the bowler all about and then we he gets set, he is difficult to bowl to.”
On Gayle’s fastest World T20 century, he said, “It’s on the day, you hit couple of boundaries and hit couple of balls in the middle and then all of a sudden you look up and haven’t faced a lot of balls and everything is going your way. Obviously for Gayle it happens a lot more compared to us.
“But in our team the best thing is that we have a few guys who can do that. You need one or two guys from the team to do something like that on the day and the potential to score a hundred is there and if one guy bats like Gayle did last night, to score a hundred, makes it really hard for the opposition to try and stay in the game”.
