South Africa have rattled their rivals in the 2011 World Cup with their bowling and captain Graeme Smith said Friday that there is something in store for India as well Saturday.
Smith has cleverly used his varied attack, especially the spinners. When Smith played three spinners in their opening match against West Indies in Delhi and opened the attack with off-spinner Johan Botha, it was clear that the thurst is on spin.
Botha, left-arm spinner Robin Peterson and leg-spinner Imran Tahir have successfully executed Smith's plans.
It was something new for the opposition, who usually prepare to face the fearsome Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.
Smith says they wanted to be “unpredictable” and make the opposition think.
"Everything we tried seemed to have worked. As a bowling unit, we have been very strong in the tournament so far. The unpredictability is good as most people take us to be predictable. The only thing is that the bowlers have to execute the plans.”
Smith said they have plans against India too.
"The fact that we are talking about the bowling options means that we have been pretty successful with our plans. We have few things up our sleeve. We have got the options available. Our bowlers had a fair amount of success against India. We obviously know each other pretty well. We played the whole summer.”
India have quality players to tackle the spin. They have had a tough time facing the heat of Steyn, Morkel with Lonwabo Tsotsobe doing a fine job as third seamer on bouncy pitches back home.
The wicket here is expected to have some bounce and carry also.
Smith, however, did not reveal whether he will rely on pace or attack with spinners.
His experiment with Botha succeeded against the West Indies as he got rid of the explosive Chris Gayle quickly. Smith then completely foxed England, backing left-arm spinner Peterson to open the attack against Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss and the spinner got both. Smith has also used his spinners in short spells, not allowing the batsmen to settle down.
“We have been lot more different with our planning. We have done that in the last three games.”
Smith said the game against India will be important to both teams in terms of gaining confidence and momentum.
“But it is not the be all and end all of the World Cup. The quarterfinal, semifinal and final stages are the most important.
"This is the ground where our bowler were successful, we had a very successful Test win here," Smith said, reminding of the innings victory last year.
Smith said reverse swing may be a factor in the match.
"We reckon there will not be much dew. The conditions are pretty warm. The outfield is lush and the pitch is really good. I expect an amount of reverse swing with the white ball, not much like it did in Chennai. But I think reverse swing will play a factor."
