Confident Proteas ready for India challenge in third T20 International

The Proteas were given a wake-up call in their opening game against India, all-rounder Marco Jansen admits, but they gave themselves a boost in confidence ahead of Wednesday’s match in Centurion after turning things around at the weekend.

In the first fixture of their four-match T20 International series in Durban last week, the SA team were crushed by 61 runs against an under-strength India team.

But they dug deep in the closing stages of the second game in Gqeberha on Sunday, snatching a three-wicket victory to level the series at 1-1.

The Proteas will now be hoping to take the lead in the penultimate game of their four-match series at SuperSport Park (starting at 5pm).

“We spoke about the first game and we knew we didn’t play our best,” said Jansen, who returned to the national side last week after an injury hiatus.

“We all felt we did decently with the ball, and we pulled it back nicely after they got off to a good start, but with the bat everyone felt we could have done a bit better.

“So I think in the second game we were a lot more focussed on winning the small battles because in two or three overs in T20 cricket there’s a lot that can happen. And I think we won most of the small battles.”

Different conditions

With the first two matches having been played in coastal cities, Jansen said the hosts would need to adjust their approach as they moved inland to the high altitude of Gauteng.

In order to put pressure on the tourists, he felt they would need to strike often with the ball to prevent their opponents from building partnerships.

“In the highveld the ball travels a lot more than at the coast, so for us it’s important to take wickets at regular intervals because it’s very difficult to restrict or maintain the run-rate with the ball flying around everywhere.

“So if we can get regular wickets, that will stop the scoring rate and hopefully restrict them to a low total.”

Spin challenge

Having struggled against India’s spin bowlers in both Durban and Gqeberha, Jansen said the Proteas needed to be ready for a new challenge in Highveld conditions.

“It’s definitely going to be a different challenge here because there’s more bounce,” he said.

“I don’t think we’ve played the spin as well as we wanted to play it (last week) and there were a few soft options – for me in particular – where we felt we could definitely make better decisions and execute better.

“But playing spin here is a lot different than playing in Gqeberha or Durban. Here there is a lot more bounce so they will probably try and get a fuller length, and how we go about that is different with each individual.”