Proteas out to set the record straight
EVEN Faf du Plessis admitted he would lose money, if someone challenged him about India’s record at the Wanderers.
India have played four Tests at the Wanderers, the venue where pace and bounce is the norm, where fast bowling rules and where India, uncomfortable against pace and bounce, and supposedly scared of pace bowling, have yet to lose.
India have won one and drawn three at “The Bullring”. In one of those draws South Africa needed rain to save them and in another the Proteas took their foot off the gas with victory in sight chasing 458 in the last innings in 2013.
“It’s an amazing stat; if you’d asked me if they’d lost here, I’d definitely put money on it that they had,” Du Plessis said.
It is, Du Plessis acknowledged one of those quirky anomalies sport can throw up occasionally. Du Plessis tried to compare it to SA’s record at the Waca, where the Proteas have played four times, winning on three occasions.
But Perth provides conditions with which SA players are at least familiar. There is nothing like the Wanderers in India... and yet SA haven’t been able to beat India in Johannesburg.
Naturally it’s a record the South Africans want to overturn, and with the possibility of a series whitewash on the line, it adds to the home team’s motivation for the final match of the series.
As was the case in Cape Town, SA are once again mulling the composition of their starting eleven. Du Plessis said there are three options available to the home team; stick with the same side that won the second Test in Centurion, bring in an all-rounder (Andile Phehlukwayo) or pick an extra batsman (Theunis de Bruyn).
The SA captain is reluctant to play without Keshav Maharaj, something he did last year against Sri Lanka, when the quartet of fast bowlers at his disposal lacked the quality of the group available to him this year. “Kesh is an extremely-talented spin bowler and we are very lucky to have him, if we do think of leaving him out we have to be 100 percent sure that we want to leave him out,” said Du Plessis.
At least in SA’s case changes to the starting eleven seem reasonably understandable. Once again as far as India are concerned all options are on the table for the final match of the series.