India vs South Africa | Junior Dala asks hosts to be more proactive with their approach
Junior Dala, who picked up two wickets on his T20I debut at the Wanderers, emphasized on the need of being proactive rather than reactive ahead of the second T20I in Centurion. The pacer has also admitted that he was nervous ahead of his debut but he was eventually happy with his performance.
The ongoing limited-overs series between India and South Africa saw many Proteas’ players getting injured which forced the hosts to play without their full strength team. The blow came as an opportunity for some young players to play at the highest level against some world class players in the absence of Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock as Aiden Markram was selected to lead the side in the ODI series. The SA team played their first T20I game under JP Duminy’s captaincy where Dala got a chance to make his first international appearance. However, his plans to bowl more short balls ended up being ineffective as Shikhar Dhawan countered it brilliantly, but Dala stated that the team were happy in backing their game plan.
"If they were four down, we wouldn't have talked about it. When you play T20 cricket, you have to assess the wicket early on. We sort of had a game plan and we all stuck to it. The Indians also saw
"With any gameplan, if you don't execute well, it always looks bad. As bowlers we were honest with each other, we had a sort of gameplan. But perhaps we didn't execute enough of that plan. It boils down to execution. Maybe we didn't execute it. Definitely, we are going to go in with a gameplan. But I think we need to be a little bit more proactive. We have a gameplan but proactive to it as opposed to being reactive.
"That is something the coaching staff has to decide. At the end of the day, whether I or Dane Patterson open, if JP has faith in us or confidence in us that's all we sort of need. We just need to be a lot more proactive. In the first three overs, if there are a lot of cut balls or pull balls, maybe we change it a bit lot sooner."
South Africa started their campaign on a good note as they won the three-match Test series 2-1 but they failed to repeat that performance in the limited overs format. The team faced a humiliating defeat in the six-match ODI series as India registered a 5-1 win. The pressure is on the Rainbow nation team to bounce back in the T20 format. And Dala believes that the team is confident enough to turn the series around.
"I think we are not too far away on Sunday. We can turn this around. If we win tomorrow and on Sunday (Saturday), everyone will say, it was a good tour for South Africa. We won the tour 2-1," Dala added.
Dala managed to take the wickets of Indian opener Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina early but in his four overs, he conceded 47 runs. The right-arm pacer claimed that he was nervous ahead of the series opener of the T20I series.
"It means the most to me because I always thought that I was a few franchise performances away from knocking the door. Just with the injuries, I am glad I could come back from that. With the stress fracture, I am glad I could do well in the Ram Slam. I think the first half of the momentum (one-day series) before I got the groin tear, did reasonably well. I was pleased that I could overcome injury and still play my best when I do play,” he said.
"I was a bit of nervous. don't bowl in powerplay even for Titans. So to open the bowling, glad I could control the ball. Maybe, adrenaline got too much. But overall, I could have done a bit better. Pleased that I got a few wickets also. So not too bad."
The level of the pressure on the South African players was clearly visible during the Johannesburg match as they dropped few opportunities while fielding which allowed the Indian batsmen to strengthen their place on the crease. However, it is not the first time that the hosts were shambolic on the field. Throughout the tour, South Africa, which is always recognised as one of the best fielding sides in the world, failed to live up to the reputations and missed a lot of catches.
"I think fielding is a personal pride thing. The coaches can only give us the tools. Obviously, how you handle the pressure on the day is what matters. I don't think we emphasised much on the fielding. Basically, it was a fun drill. From the outside, it looked like we are focusing on outfield but it was more a fun drill. I think our fielding is in a good place. We need to just pick up the intensity come tomorrow," Dala opined.
In the last 5 IND vs SA ODIs, SA was bowled out twice, while IND was bowled out only once.
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