The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : ‘South Africa will have a tough time’

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‘South Africa will have a tough time’

Rakesh Rao

CHANDIGARH: “Batting against quality spinners on the last two days of a Test match in India is going to be very tough for South Africa. And if, South Africa can manage to win, it will be equivalent of India’s victory over Australia recently.”

These words from Lance Klusener reflect how the South Africans perceive a tour to India. “If the pitches offer low and slow bounce, then it will be very difficult for us. In the past, we have won with our pace bowlers. This time, we have no spin at all,” said the 36-year-old Klusener here on Tuesday.

Interestingly, former captain Ajit Wadekar said on Sunday that it would be a good idea for Anil Kumble to insist on playing three spinners against South Africa in the coming series.

Klusener, a veteran of 49 Tests and 171 One-day Internationals, is here as part of the Kolkata Tigers team in the ICL’s Edelweiss 20s Challenger.

Known for his reluctance to answer questions from mediapersons during his days with the National team, Klusener today is far more forthcoming and speaks his mind.

A myth

“I think it’s a myth that Twenty20 is not for the older players. I think the 50-over format is far more demanding. Here, since it is only 20 overs, we use our experience to come out of challenging situations and the younger players in the team learn from that. One or two overs can change the complexion of the game. So age has very little to do with it,” said Klusener.

He sounded amused at the way Indian media went overboard when the cricketers returned from Australia.

“I think winning in Australia was a great achievement. In the past, other teams, too, have beaten Australia. It was not that it was a World Cup win. A team has to be judged by its consistency over months and years and not how it performs in a week. Now South Africa will be here soon. If the Indians don’t keep winning, they will be back to zero. That’s how a cricketer’s life goes. You have to sustain your performance over a period of time,” was how Klusener chose to put it.

Quality players

Asked to pick some of the hard-hitting batsmen he admires, Klusener said, “I think, Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs are the ones who bat up the order and hit a cricket-ball pretty hard. On their day, they can win a match on their own. They are quality players in any form of the game.”

Curiously, Klusener declined to comment on the batting skills of Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni but not without reason. “I have not played against Dhoni. And I have not watched much of him or for that matter Yuvraj recently. Let them first play 200 matches before judging whether they are great cricketers.”

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