Sports
Adapting to Kookaburra, bounce crucial for SA series: Bhuvneshwar
Cape Town, Dec 31 (IANS) Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar said on Sunday that adapting to the Kookaburra ball and the bouncy wickets here will be crucial during the upcoming Test series against South Africa.
“The first thing that comes to our mind about bowling in South Africa is bouncy wickets, seaming wickets. But you can’t be sure we are going to get such wickets. When it comes to bowlers, Kookaburra is one of the toughest balls to bowl with as it doesn’t do much after 25-30 overs, these are the kind of situations we are tackling with,” Bhuvneshwar told told the media.
“We know the general conditions in South Africa, so we are preparing according to that. We just want to prepare our best, that’s all we want,” he added.
Bhuneshwar informed that the Indian pacers have not started to prepare their strategies for the first Test which is scheduled to start on January 5 and will only do so a couple of days before the series.
“”We haven’t talked so far. We are trying to do basic things. A couple of days before the Test, we will see how to go into the match. What are the things we can bring into the Test, regarding strategies, regarding their batsmen. These are the things we will definitely do, but for now we are trying to do the basic things,” he said.
“Yesterday, we did two sessions to get into the Test mode. It is a six-hour day in a Test match so we bowled twice. We wanted to bowl as long as possible,” the Meerut pacer added.
India are yet to win a Test series in South Africa. But the team has been in excellent form over the past two years, winning every series in that period and reclaiming the top spot in the Test rankings in the process.
Bhuvneshwar asserted that on current form, the Indian team has a very good chance of winning a first ever Test series in South Africa.
“Everyone is confident. Whenever any team tours abroad, there is a great chance to win those series, but you have to give your best in every department on all five days. This team has done well in the last two and a half years, so we are confident of doing well in these conditions. But yes, like I said, we have to be at our best to win the series here,” he said.
–IANS
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The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.
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