Short-ball strategy not wrong, says debutant Dala ›

With any gameplan, if you don’t execute well, it always looks bad. As bowlers, we were honest with each other. But perhaps we didn’t execute the plan well enough. It boils down to execution. JUNIOR DALA, On SA’S short-pitched bowling

CENTURION: An important piece of statistic in the previous match on Sunday was that 33% of the runs by Shikhar Dhawan (72) were scored off pull shots, laying emphasis once again on whether South Africa’s shortpitched bowling strategy failed against Virat Kohli’s men.

Junior Dala, South Africa’s debutant pacer, who opened the bowling admitted that they failed to assess the wicket early and India could judge the wicket as they bowled second and could adjust.

“When you play T20 cricket, you have to assess the wicket very early. We sort of had a game-plan and we all stuck to it. The Indians also saw us bowl. So in hindsight, they saw what we did and how the wicket was and could adjust.

“We backed our game-plan, whether it was wrong or right. It is something we truly believed in. If they were four down, we wouldn’t have talked about it,” said Dala.

Dala toed the line that South Africa skipper JP Duminy had taken – that there is nothing wrong with the game-plan of bowling short balls and it is just that they didn’t execute it properly.

“With any game-plan, if you don’t execute well, it always looks bad. As bowlers we were honest with each other. But perhaps we didn’t execute the plan well enough. It boils down to execution.”

India won the match in the first few overs as they raced to a huge total. And although Dala did reasonably well in his first two overs, conceding 18 runs and picking up two important wickets of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, it was Dane Paterson who leaked runs at the other end. Paterson gave away 31 runs in his two overs.

“We just need to be a lot more proactive. In the first three overs, if there are a lot of cut balls or pull balls, maybe we change it a bit lot sooner,” he said.

Dala said the biggest challenge is to communicate any change in strategy quickly.

“In T20 cricket, it is so difficult to convey a message or communicate. It is something we can improve on. We are a young side and we can get caught up with the moment.”

Dala also conceded that he felt a bit nervous.

“I was a bit nervous. Maybe, it was too much adrenaline.”