A lack of discipline with the ball condemned South Africa to yet another knock-out match loss in a major ICC tournament on Friday as the Proteas bowled a number of loose deliveries at a potent Indian batting line-up. Defending 172, the South African bowlers left the ball outside off-stump far too frequently and gifted the Indians with nine wides en route to a six-wicket loss at Mirpur, and after the match captain Faf du Plessis said the extras were a major factor in the result, suggesting they led to a 15-20 run swing in the score.
‘If you’re looking to win a world cup it’s really important that you do the small things and the basics well, and that’s definitely one of the things tonight. It was a real – not a match-changer – but it definitely put us on the back foot,’ du Plessis said after South Africa continued their winless run in tournament semi-finals.
‘If you want to win close games, if you want to beat quality opposition like India, you’ve got to make sure that one per cent you do really well.’
‘It’s unfortunate that it didn’t happen for us today. It’s one of those things. We can’t plan more or anything; it was just a little indiscipline.’
Du Plessis also defended his usage of his bowlers, particularly Dale Steyn, whom he held back for three of the final six overs. Steyn bowled the 15th over but was then held back again until the 18th to put him in line for the final over; a decision that appeared to have backfired when Wayne Parnell conceded 17 in the 17th over to effectively hand the match to India. The match ended with five deliveries still remaining in Steyn’s final over.
‘If Steyn bowled the 17th and Parnell the 18th and they went for the same runs you’d have asked me the same question.’
‘We’ve got death bowlers in our side and they all have a job to do. The batsmen tonight outskilled us; they played us better than we could have done by bowling to them. But I always knew that if the game came close it was important that Dale had to bowl 18 and 20. Unfortunately that over went for a little bit too many, but that’s how it goes.’
‘It’s hard to expect Dale to be a match-winner every time. He’s also human; he’s going to have days when he’s not just cleaning guys up. Dale bowled well tonight, but the batsmen were up to the task.’
-With New Age input
