Pitches here in South Africa, unlike England or New Zealand, rarely support swing bowlers. The idea is to hit the deck hard, something India has struggled to do
Pitches here in South Africa, unlike England or New Zealand, rarely support swing bowlers. The idea is to hit the deck hard, something India has struggled to do. And with the Boxing Day Test at Kingsmead, Durban less than a week away, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has admitted he has problems: "The biggest worry and disappointment is that we couldn't get them all out. We are used to playing on flatter tracks, and we still failed to get them out," said Dhoni.
|
| Worried! Mahendra Singh Dhoni |
"Our bowlers are not express pace (like SA bowlers). They can't consistently clock 140 kmph plus. So,u00a0 they have to be accurate with their line and length. As a captain, I have to be precise with my field settings. There were times when we contained them, but that wasn't enough," he said.
Dhoni also expressed concern over his bowlers' over rate on the second and third day when the hosts' batsmen piled on a massive total of 620-4. "I'm worried about our over rates. We were five and a half overs down on that front. We need to step up on that. We need to finish our quota of overs in the time allotted," Dhoni said.
Also, the fact that SA's 620 came at a run-rate of 4.76, troubled Dhoni, "We can't let them score at five an over. If our bowlers can't get wickets, the least they can do is keep the run-scoring down," he said.
The pace trio of S Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and Jaidev Unadkat rarely troubled the SA batsmen at SuperSport Park.
