South African T20 captain Faf du Plessis believes the condition for the first T20 venue (Dharamsala) on October 2nd will help them a lot with the bounce and pace.
Not to mention the high altitude of Dharamsala will provide the Proteas with a much cooler environment compared to the heat and humidity which they are currently experiencing in the nation’s capital.
A bemused Du Plessis said, “Yeah, I will be honest that I was quite surprised when I heard that we will be playing in Dharamsala first. It has a nice wicket with good pace and bounce. We would be looking to use those conditions with our quick bowlers.”
He also believes the nation’s idea of having three different captains for all the three formats of the game has so far worked beautifully for them. FAF is the captain of their shorter format of the game, while Hashim Amla in Tests and AB de Villiers in ODIs will lead the Proteas. “I think it is working beautifully. Someone like AB with a lot on his plate can sit back and enjoy during T20s. That enables him to always remain in fresh mind. Hashim, as the Test captain, has extra responsibility and in T20s, he gives that over to me,” he said.
South African captain is also delighted to put behind his injury problem which kept him out of the New Zealand series. “For the last 5-6 weeks I haven’t had a lot of cricket. But now the knee is looking good. It’s never nice to sit in the sidelines and watch the guys play,” he said. “It is also unfortunate to miss the New Zealand series, but I am excited to play again.”
When talking about his experience under captain cool, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for five seasons in IPl with Chennai Super Kings, Du Plessis replied, “I enjoyed playing under him. He is a calm captain. Under pressure situation they (players) look to him and his experience.”