New Delhi: South Africa’s fast bowling attack may not have the aura of their illustrious predecessors in the T20 World Cup, but the duo of Luis Ngidi and Marco Jansen are equally hard-working and have proven their quality in the tournament. However, the Pro-teas seamer was not unsettling the batsmen with his raw pace like before. Instead, they engineer the downfall of batsmen through deceptive changes of pace and length in the shortest format of the game. The team will play their final group match against the UAE in Delhi on Wednesday before a crucial match against South Africa on Sunday.
With their top pacer Kagiso Rabada performing well below his best in the first three games, Ngidi and Jansen have caught up in the group stages. South Africa took 22 wickets in these three games, with the duo taking 15 wickets together, with Ngidi taking eight and Jansen taking seven. What’s more, all eight of the wickets claimed by the duo came in the powerplay.
Both did not bowl too full and instead relied on short and long deliveries in the initial overs. More importantly, they used slower balls wisely and varied the length of the ball.
South Africa’s special adviser Albi Morkel has given an insight into the thoughts of their fast bowlers ahead of their match against UAE. “We are based in Ahmedabad and the wickets there are very good for batting. So as a bowler you don’t have much choice and batsmen thrive in such conditions.
So what we have to do is try to close that gap and be a little bit unpredictable to stop them from getting six points. ” said Albi, brother of India bowling coach Moeen.
He also praised Ngidi. “He is very good at taking wickets. He has developed a slow ball that is very deceptive and he knows when to use it and how to use it.” The eldest of the Morkel brothers also backed Rabada to do well, “We will double down on him and support him all the way. I think this is the only way forward,” he said.