Skipper Graeme Smith believes his team, South Africa, will have the edge in their World Twenty20 match against India on Sunday
Skipper Graeme Smith believes his team, South Africa, will have the edge in their World Twenty20 match against India on Sunday.
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| South Africa captain Graeme Smith |
With several South Africans, having played in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Smith believes India are a familiar proposition for the Proteas. The left-handed opener said the psychological advantage also will be with the Proteas as South Africa achieved the notable feat of beating India on a turning pitch at Trent Bridge during last year's World T20.
"We've played India a little bit of late and with a lot of our guys involved in the IPL, we've first hand knowledge of a lot of their players," said Smith.
"We've got some really good thoughts about playing India. We've had success (against India) in the last tournament and this tournament generally, we've had a lot of success without going all the way," he added.
SA, who've been resting pacemen Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis, could field a side featuring two specialist spinners in Johan Botha and Roelof van der Merwe.
"It definitely is an option," Smith said. "Most of the wickets seem to be a little bit slower and taking a bit of spin.
"Our options are open, in our armoury we've got pace and spin so I think we've got enough there to challenge India's batters."
Meanwhile Smith was also coy as to the identity of his fellow opener. "Tactically we are still looking at a few things against India. We might be a little bit more versatile than just keeping two guys for the whole tournament. We might mix it around a little bit."
Smith said it was too early to say whether playing in the IPL would be a help or a hindrance to a side's World Twenty20 chances, although he couldn't resist pointing out India, who played Afghanistan here on Saturday, started with two matches in as many days.
"India start with back-to-back games so how they gel as a team and play in this environment is going to be interesting to see."
Asked what he'd found out from playing alongside India's Yusuf Pathan in the IPL, jokingly replied: "He likes daal and eats a lot before he walks onto the field!"
