The conditions at Cape Town was damp.
Rain and dark clouds made the conditions ideal for the faster bowlers to cash
in big time. MS Dhoni won the toss and without any hesitation he chose to field
first.
In
no time, the Indian bowlers dismissed the South African openers. The Indian
pacers were getting enough movement off the pitch and made the ball skid
prodigiously. It was a testing time for the Proteas batters and enough
character was needed to counter such movements.
When
the ball is moving around like a boomerang and it’s posing a threat in each
minute then either you drop the anchors or counter-attack. Jacques Kallis’
batting partner Hashim Amla chose the second option.
Amla
took charge after the second resumption. He drove the first ball after the
break off Zaheer Khan through point and the very next delivery to wide mid-on
and another between midwicket and mid-on. All went for scorching boundaries
whih had been the results of exquisite timing and perfect foot-work.
A
pumped up Sreesanth was smashed for four at the cover boundary. Sreesanth urged
Amla to drive by the pitching out side the off and then swinging it away from
Amla, but the astute technique of Amla came into play here. The hook shot of
Sreesanth for a six was a treat to watch. It was all about controlled
aggression.
One
must notice Amla’s approach against the aggressiveness of a fast bowler. If a batsman
needs to dominate over the aggressiveness of a fast bowler then he must go for
the option of drastic measures: controlled aggression. And above all your
skills and technique must be adequate enough to survive against the fury of
pace bowlers on a pace-bowling friendly track.
At
Cape Town Amla’s brief 59 on one of the most difficult of conditions proved how
temperamentally and technically strong he is. One may say that he was lucky to
survive the edges but if you take a look at those edges then edges were
executed deliberately – an exhibition of confident batsmanship.
Thank
You
Faisal
Caesar
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