03 February,2010 07:23 AM IST | | Sudheendra Tripathi
When India take on the Proteas in a two-Test rubber beginning in Nagpur on February 6, there could be one serious challenge to their standing as champions of the flat wicket gameu00a0-- fast bowler Dale Steyn, who has been surprising seasoned batsmen with what he can get out of even the dullest of tracks. That's why, Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer, Steyn's teammate in the Bangalore Royal Challengers team, believes that the national team's strategists would be planning carefully right now on how to play the SA quickie.
Dale Steyn
Good rhythm
"Steyn (Dale) has the ability to bowl really fast, and if he is fit and in good rhythm, he can get a good bargain out of the wicket. That, the wicket is dead or lively, doesn't really matter," noted Jaffer, who faced Steyn while opening the batting in the 2008 two-Test series and scored a respectable 73 in the drawn first Test in Chennai.
And it's not just the speed that is concerning according to Jaffer. "Steyn can get the ball to rise sharply," Jaffer said and added: "And if he can get the ball to rise like he normally does, batsmen will be in a lot of discomfort because of the invariable bounce. Judging the short-pitched stuff would get difficult."
Quickest
Jaffer's Mumbai Ranji Trophy teammate Abhishek Nayar, who scored a century against South Africa in yesterday's Board President's XI, agreed: "Steyn is one of the quickest and is skiddy. His short balls come at an awkward height which makes it negotiating him tougher. He's a lot more difficult than anyone else and is a wicket-taking bowler."
It's not just the pace and bounce that Steyn's armoury boasts off. In the 36 Test matches Steyn has featured in for South Africa, he has picked up 185 wickets at healthy average of 23.17 and an alarming strike rate of 39.94. The attribute of picking up wickets almost at will, adds to Steyn's character as a lethal pace weapon.
England captain Andrew Strauss would agree: Steyn picked up seven wickets (five in the first innings and two in second) to help South Africa draw the four-Test series against England 1-1 in Johannesburg last month. In the three Tests Steyn played, he had a haul of 16 wickets.
Even though the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground in Jamtha, Nagpur is only one Test old, the track there is expected to be like any other Indian wicket u2014 unassuming, India go in with their newly acquired Test champion status as favourites, but one statistic sounds reasonably alarming.
None of India's middle-order batsmen, other than the injured Rahul Dravid has a three-figure score against South Africa. But Jaffer insists it is not a statistic to be worried about. "Our batsmen are in very good form. I am sure they will handle the SA attack, which is very balanced, pretty well. But the newcomers like Murali (Vijay) andu00a0 Badrinath might just find it difficult because they have not really faced the likes of Steyn and (Morne) Morkel on a consistent basis.
