South Africa will target swashbuckling India batsman Virender Sehwag with short-pitched bowling in the rest of the series, coach Mickey Arthur said on Tuesday.
Sehwag tore apart the tourists’ bowling in the drawn first Test at Chennai with a scintillating 319 off 304 balls, the fastest triple century in history and the second of his career.
Arthur, preparing for the second Test starting on Thursday, said the South Africans had analysed Sehwag’s innings in detail to spot potential loopholes in the opener’s play.
”We had a look at Sehwag’s fantastic innings. He cuts the ball very well but we saw he played his first pull shot only after scoring 312,” the coach said.
”So we are planning to target him with short balls on his body, cramp him for space and see how he takes it.”
Arthur, however, insisted his squad was not under pressure and had batsmen and bowlers who were capable of churning out match-winning performances.
”We have probably taken more positives from the first Test,” he said. ”The top order has performed and we have bowlers who can take 20 wickets.
”We have played a lot on the subcontinent, we have kept the same top six in the batting order and we are comfortable playing spin bowling.
”We have a very balanced attack including a very good spinner in Paul Harris, who is probably a most underrated bowler.”
Arthur hoped the wicket will offer more assistance to his fast bowlers, unlike the unresponsive track at Chennai, which saw a whopping 1 498 runs being scored at the cost of 25 wickets.
”We will have to wait and watch for the first ball to be bowled [to see] how the wicket is,” he said. ”At the moment it looks good with some grass on it. Hopefully the pitch will help the seamers.
”It will be interesting to see how the ball behaves on the lush green outfield or whether it helps reverse swing.” — AFP
