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Dhaka - Proteas T20 captain, Faf du Plessis, has given his players a pass mark following their 2-0 T20 international series win over Bangladesh on Tuesday.
As it happened: Proteas claim series win
The skipper praised the way his players “outsmarted” the confident home side with both bat and ball, and says the win is the best possible start to an important season.
“I think we played exceptionally well once again,” said Du Plessis. “We got 170 on a tough wicket which was probably about 15 runs over a par score. Bangladesh did bat better today, they tried to learn from their mistakes in the first game, but we had all the answers from a bowling point of view. I’m really proud of the boys, these were extremely tough conditions to beat Bangladesh 2-0. Everyone put their hand up, it’s a good way to start the tour.”
Du Plessis said it was important to make a statement early on in the tour ahead of the One-Day International (ODI) series starting on Friday.
“They’ve had an incredible run against Pakistan and India so their confidence would have been sky-high,” he said. “It was important for us as a team to try to put a dent in that confidence. It’s good leading into the ODIs that we could do that but I also appreciate and understand that one-day cricket is a different format. We will go back to making sure we prepare really well for the upcoming series. We will never underestimate Bangladesh, hopefully we can do more of the same in the ODI series.”
The selectors were given an encouraging glimpse of the spin depth in the pipeline with the impressive debut of leg-spinner, Eddie Leie, who said his main aim and secret was to keep it simple.
“In South Africa the way I naturally bowl is to try to keep it simple by bowling wicket-to-wicket, I tried to do the same here,” he said. “I tried not to focus on the pitch or the turn but rather on the basics. Bangladesh started very well so it was important for me to keep it simple in the middle periods; if they were taking ones I felt like the job was done.”
Leie was modest after claiming the best T20I figures (3/16) for a South African debutant, and only hopes to improve his skills by feeding off the experience of Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso.
“It’s always exciting making your debut for your country,” he exclaimed. “We have good spinners in South Africa; we have guys like Phangiso and Imran Tahir, so I’m trying to learn as much as I can from them. Coming into the team and trying to fulfil roles that guys have done before me is very exciting.”
