‘Ferrari’ Faf on the Proteas’ issues before Newlands

The build-up to the eagerly anticipated first Test against the Proteas and India at Newlands starting on Friday has spawned quite a few talking points.

And home skipper Faf du Plessis had to deal with pretty much all of them.

Here’s what he had to say.

On Dale Steyn being considered in the starting XI…

I’m looking at him, yes. It’s a tough call. For me, he is the best bowler in the world. He hasn’t played for a while and he hasn’t got the overs under his legs that he would have wanted. But facing Dale in the nets, the skill feels like it hasn’t gone anywhere. He has got the same pace, and the same swing. Skillwise it’s like he has just jumped back on that bicycle and is riding again.

On the possibility of having to leave out either AB de Villiers or Temba Bavuma (if an all-rounder gets picked)…

All angles that you look at with picking this team is a very hard decision. We will make the decision we believe is the best specifically for Newlands. I think with the make-up of our squad now we have so many different options you can look at picking a different team for different venues. That’s our thinking. We have an idea of what we think will be the right team for this venue, and then we’ll probably change it up again once we go up north.

On De Villiers and Hashim Amla’s form going into the series…

What’s important with AB is that he is fresh and hungry to score big runs. He has had a good break. He feels mentally strong and he wants to put in big performances, so I think that’s half the battle already. When you have got a high-quality player like himself, if you get the mental side of things right, he can be a good asset. The same with Hashim – he scored some good runs in previous series. I know Bangladesh’s attack was not as strong as India’s will be, but you can only score runs against what’s put in front of you and he was superb through that series. If you take that, he’s in really good form.

On how to stop India captain Virat Kohli…

He is a very good player. His stats don’t lie. I am not going to tell you what the plans are. We are hoping we can put some pressure on him. If we can keep him quiet, we have a much better chance.

On his own fitness and going into the series ‘cold’…

I sent the Ferrari into the panelbeaters. Just to get fixed. It was frustrating at times because everything happened slower than I thought it would. It’s 11 weeks now and I just feel now like I’m ready to play. Obviously time at home is nice, and the good thing is I didn’t miss much cricket for South Africa. I’m extremely hungry to play again. I would have liked to play against Zimbabwe to get some batting in but the batting feels good and hopefully I can take off from here.

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