South Africa captain Faf du Plessis admitted he was nervous after his team set India a target of only 208 to win the first Test in Cape Town. The hosts were bowled out for 130 in their second innings on Monday after being 65/2 overnight but eventually won the match by 72 runs, with Vernon Philander taking a career-best 6/42.
“I was nervous,” du Plessis said in his post-match press conference on Monday. “I knew that the new ball was going to be key for us and that if we could get wickets with the new ball we feel like we can get through their batting line-up.
“Obviously they’ve got a few quality players in there but once you can put a bit of pressure on them I thought we can get through them. But definitely I was very nervous. I came here this morning hoping to get a 350 lead and bowl to them tonight, so obviously that didn’t go to plan.”
Chasing 208, India were bowled out for 135 in 42.4 overs. Du Plessis was all praise for the Philander-led bowling attack.
“Weve got fantastic seam bowlers and if there’s anything in the wicket, Vernon Philander and the other two guys are amazing,” he said. “And if we had Dale Steyn there today, I reckon we would have rolled them out cheaper.”
Steyn did not bowl at all in the second innings after limping out with a heel injury on day two. He was seen walking on crutches on day four in the dressing room but he did, however, come out to bat at No 11.
“We said if by any chance AB is still there, Dale can just go and just stand there and hopefully AB can smash a few sixes,” du Plessis said. “The plan wasn’t to get him to bat and injure him more.
“He was padded up before we spoke about this to him. I feel incredibly bad for Dale. He worked for over a year. He was challenged through periods where he started and got injured again, and then started and got injured again.”
On the bowling front, du Plessis felt Steyn was back to his best. The pacer took two wickets for 51 runs in the first innings.
“It was great to see Dale like he didn’t go anywhere,” the skipper said. “He was back to his best. I was standing at slip and we felt like he could nick guys off at anytime. You were just happy to see Dale Steyn back on the park, so this is a huge step back for him.
“Luckily it’s not his shoulder again. The foot, or injury that he has, is something you probably can get over a lot quicker and we are looking forward to bringing him back in the fold when he’s fit again.”
Playing four seamers
Philander led the three-man pace attack well in Steyn’s absence and the South Africa captain was all praise for the 32-year-old.
“If there’s something in the wicket, Vernon is as good as you get around the world,” du Plessis said. “What impressed me most was he wanted to bowl overs. He didn’t say after three or four overs, ‘that’s enough.’ He wanted the ball and he wanted to make a plan, that’s all you ask for from a senior player’s point of view.”
South Africa’s decision to play four seamers came as a surprise to many and the captain said the decision of picking a team was “definitely the hardest” he has been involved in.
“There is so much value in both scenarios,” he said. “Playing seven batsmen that offer a bit more seam is a very good call.
“But I just thought, if you have Steyn, Morkel, Philander, Rabada that’s four bowlers you cannot look past. It’s a positive move. Yes, Dale hasn’t played a lot of cricket but the way he was bowling in the nets, and the way he bowled in the first innings, I think he was one of our best bowlers,” he added.
With just five specialist batsmen, the hosts only managed 286 and 130 in two innings. At one stage in the first innings, they were even stuck at 12/3 but recovered well enough. In the second innings, they lost eight wickets for 65 runs in the morning session of day four.
“This morning felt unplayable when we batted,” du Plessis said. “I think pace and bounce is something that you look for in South Africa. There was movement in this Test match.”
India can expect more pace off the pitch in the remaining two Tests in Pretoria and Johannesburg. “Obviously overhead conditions and moisture could play a role,” du Plessis said. “When we go to Pretoria, we will hopefully get the same and Johannesburg. Those are renowned for being a little bit quicker. Hopefully we’ll get them there.”
Du Plessis said he was impressed with the Indian bowlers, especially the quicks.
“When I saw the names [of Indian bowlers] that have came over, you almost look at what they will offer in these conditions. You know they have also got variety in these conditions.
“They’ve got guys that can swing the ball, guys that can seam the ball around and they’ve also got a bit of pace. It’s similar to our attack. So I’m not surprised. We wanted the wicket to be a little bit like that, so we expected the wicket to be a bit more bowler friendly.
“You just needed one or two guys to step up and score some runs. So we did that fortunately in that first innings. I felt that one of me, AB and Quinton could have pushed through to get an 80-odd and put an even bigger total.
With inputs from PTI