Ahead of its World Cup league stage clash against Pakistan, South Africa is wary of getting complacent around a team seeking to set its fortunes right.
“Pakistan are a dangerous team. We know that they haven’t played close to their best, but tomorrow could be that and we want to make sure we are ready for that,” said Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma.
The 33-year-old emphasised on the utility of Tabraiz Shamsi left-arm wrist spin against Pakistan, which has shown a weakness to spin.
South Africa is yet to win a game batting second in the tournament (with their lone defeat so far coming in a game where the side had to chase) but Bavuma is unfazed about the prospect of doing so in Chennai.
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“I watched the Afghanistan game with Pakistan and it seemed to get a lot better batting under light.I think we know somewhere along the line in the tournament we’ll have to bat second. And I think the conversations that we’ve had as batters is to find ways as to how we can still follow that same process that we follow when we’re batting first,” he said.
While the South Africa cruising in the top half of the table, Pakistan will need a win to infuse some optimism into their World Cup campaign and Bavuma is aware of what a motivator fear can be for a cricket team.
“I saw a comment that described Pakistan as mercurial. I had to Google the word, but it spoke about how a team can be good one day and not so good the other day. So, we want to make sure that when they’re good, we are so good as well,” he said.
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