Unbeaten in the tour they might be, but Rohit Sharma’s form is giving South Africa sleepless nights and the Proteas are planning to get the marauding right-hander out of their way in the first 10 balls itself in the second ODI.
Aware of Rohit’s destructive abilities, South Africa’s bowling coach Charl langeveldt is busy working out a plan to dismiss the batsman early.
“At the moment he (Rohit) is really batting well. He bats well in Indian conditions. He is a great player. The first 10 balls to him are important. You need to try and get him out in the first 10 balls. We will probably look to bowl the glory ball. He is one of those players who ‘kicks’ on if he gets past 20,” langeveldt said on Tuesday.
Happy with the performance so far on the tour, langeveldt said adaptability is key to success for any team in Indian conditions.
“So far it has been great. We had three wins. In the last 10 overs (in Kanpur) we were looking down the barrel but we did very well to come over the line and win the game,” the former fast bowler said.
“The tour is still very long. In India you will go for runs so the main thing is always to compete. We need to compete in every ball. If you go for 6 in one ball then you should compete in the next ball. These are not easy conditions to bowl at. So if we are competing in every ball there is a good chance, we might win the game,” said langeveldt, who replaced Allan Donald as South Africa’s bowling coach.
“If we assess the conditions quick enough, we try to change things. We just don’t bowl yorkers in the death overs. One who adapts quickly, succeeds.”
langeveldt said that there are doubts over Faf du Plessis’ availability as he is down with a knee problem from which he recovered just before the tour.