COLOMBO: South Africa have a habit of failing to deliver in crunch matches at major tournaments but coach Gary Kirsten says they must produce the goods in today’s World Twenty20 clash with India.
The South Africans have lost their previous two Super Eight games and can only qualify for the semi-finals by beating India by a resounding margin while Group Two rivals Australia defeat Pakistan.
“We know what we need to do, we’ve got to execute. We also know exactly how you must play in these conditions,” Kirsten told reporters yesterday.
“The guys don’t do it all the time ... in fact they have seldom done it here.”
South Africa won their round-robin matches but then lost to Pakistan and Australia in the Super Eights.
India have won once and lost once in Group Two and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni knows they face a tough match against South Africa.
“They are a very good side,” said Dhoni.
“They have a very complete bowling lineup with fast bowlers, two spinners and they also have batsmen who can score runs at a good pace.
“But in this format we have to click as a team, with somebody scoring 40 or 50 with the bat and the rest producing cameos of 10, 15, 20.”
Meanwhile, captain AB de Villiers insists his side are not chokers despite tottering on the brink of elimination in the World Twenty20.
“I would not say we choked, we were just pretty much outplayed from ball one onwards,” de Villiers said after an eight-wicket thrashing by Australia in Colombo on Sunday night.
“It’s hard to put my finger on it. We started badly and finished badly as well. So, there is a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.”
The formidable Proteas have often being ridiculed as the perennial chokers of international cricket, having failed to win major a world title since their return from an apartheid-era ban in 1990.
The pattern has remained the same in the ongoing tournament where South Africa lost both their Super Eights matches to hit rock bottom in group two which also features India and Pakistan.
Their fate hangs by a slim lifeline. “It’s not all over yet,” the captain said.
“We are not the kind of team that will give up quickly. We will come back and try and improve, we will have to improve.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan need to rethink their strategy for today’s Super Eights game against undefeated Australia after suffering an eight-wicket loss to India, coach Dav Whatmore said.
“We need to rethink a few things, that’s for sure, and that will be done,” Whatmore told reporters in Colombo without elaborating further.
“We have had some reasonable performances against Australia just recently. But they have played very well in the last three weeks or so, in the warm up games and also in this tournament. So it will be a good test.
“Any one of three teams can still make it. It’s fantastic for them (organisers) and spectators, not good for us,” said Whatmore.
If Pakistan lose to Australia, the 2009 winners can still qualify for semi-finals provided South Africa beat India in the final Super Eight game with a lower net run rate. India and Pakistan have each won one of their two Super Eight matches.
“There is no doubt in this format, momentum and confidence are really big factors,” Australia captain George Bailey told reporters.
“We are really confident going into the last game on the back of how we have been playing.”
Agencies
