South Africa eager to get their act together before India tie

SA skipper Faf du Plessis

Southampton: At the moment, the South African team resembles a rocking ship with their captain desperate to salvage the situation before they take on India in a crucial match here tomorrow.
A string to injuries and defeats in their first two games have pushed them back a long way. Now they are desperate to regroup and recover fast and for their injury-hit players Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn to be ready for the India challenge.

"I'll go back and try and see how we can lift the spirits in the team. We're playing a strong team in India in their first game, and our third game. So as a team, we know we're not good enough at the moment and we have to turn it around," South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said.

Injury concerns

"We know that it's a very crucial game. Thus, we rested Hash [Hashim Amla] for the Bangladesh match as we wanted him to be fit for India. We also aim to get Dale [Steyn] hitting the ground soon. I know time is running out for us as we are moving from Plan 'A' to Plan 'B'. But with not all players fit, it's not been easy for us," the skipper said.

Team manager Mohammed Moosajee too said that the target for the team was to get Amla and Steyn ready for India: "Dale Steyn, as we said before we left South Africa, that we are watching his progress. The plan was always to try to get him ready for the India game. So he's making decent progress and he's out there bowling right now. We'll make a call on him and Hash before the India game."

Lungi out for 10 days

Du Plessis said that injuries have added to the desperate situation after the defeats to England and Bangladesh with Lungi Ngidi pulling a hamstring after bowling just four overs against Bangladesh and is out for 10 days.

"Now it's reshuffling all our cards and see how best we can deal with it," the skipper said.