Visakhapatnam: South African all-rounder Nadine de Klerk said that beginning well with both bat and ball holds crucial in the match against India at the ACA-VDCA International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
She feels that India are a talented side and they need to bring their best to come out triumphant. "It's a really exciting challenge. The key is to start well by taking wickets early and gain some momentum to sort of silence the crowd. It's actually been a big topic over the last couple of months, to be honest. The only way you put teams on the back foot really is by taking wickets. When you bowl first, you want to strike early. And when you bat first, you want to try and combat that by not losing two or three wickets in the power play," said Nadine.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
The medium pacer also said breaking the opening partnership of Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal and putting the middle-order in the middle early will make things tough for the hosts.
"Yeah, she (Mandhana) is a quality player. She has done well against us in the past. But I think with conditions being a bit on the slower side, we're going to really back ourselves to either keep her quiet or try to put her under pressure and get her early. We will try and break that opening stand that has been successful over the last couple of months and really try and get that middle-order in as early as possible. We all know if you haven't quite spent as much time in the middle, it's quite difficult in tricky conditions to walk in and put up massive scores. So yeah, hopefully everything goes according to plan," she said.
She also expected the Indian new-ball bowlers to pose challenges to their batters. “India have quality bowling in attack, especially their new ball bowlers have been quite successful, even in conditions that suit the spinners. They're looking to swing the ball early on and kind of put the teams on the back foot by picking up a few early wickets. But we do expect them to be spin heavy. It has been so, whenever we've played them. So, I think spin is going to be really key for both sides. I think whoever plays spin the best will come out on top," she concluded.
She feels that India are a talented side and they need to bring their best to come out triumphant. "It's a really exciting challenge. The key is to start well by taking wickets early and gain some momentum to sort of silence the crowd. It's actually been a big topic over the last couple of months, to be honest. The only way you put teams on the back foot really is by taking wickets. When you bowl first, you want to strike early. And when you bat first, you want to try and combat that by not losing two or three wickets in the power play," said Nadine.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
The medium pacer also said breaking the opening partnership of Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal and putting the middle-order in the middle early will make things tough for the hosts.
"Yeah, she (Mandhana) is a quality player. She has done well against us in the past. But I think with conditions being a bit on the slower side, we're going to really back ourselves to either keep her quiet or try to put her under pressure and get her early. We will try and break that opening stand that has been successful over the last couple of months and really try and get that middle-order in as early as possible. We all know if you haven't quite spent as much time in the middle, it's quite difficult in tricky conditions to walk in and put up massive scores. So yeah, hopefully everything goes according to plan," she said.
She also expected the Indian new-ball bowlers to pose challenges to their batters. “India have quality bowling in attack, especially their new ball bowlers have been quite successful, even in conditions that suit the spinners. They're looking to swing the ball early on and kind of put the teams on the back foot by picking up a few early wickets. But we do expect them to be spin heavy. It has been so, whenever we've played them. So, I think spin is going to be really key for both sides. I think whoever plays spin the best will come out on top," she concluded.
You may also like
Amit Shah congratulates Maharashtra on Navi Mumbai Airport, metro line inauguration
BJP to highlight photograph of injured party MP Khagen Murmu in Bengal, Bihar ahead of polls
Kanpur: 6 people injured due to blast in two scooters
"Hopes from PM shattered": Tejashwi Yadav on ceasefire during Op Sindoor
Bihar: Pawan Singh-Jyoti Singh dispute escalates
