Du Plessis rates bowling performance at Cuttack as South Africa's best ever
South African skipper Faf du Plessis reckons his side’s bowling performance in the 2nd T20I against India on Monday as the Proteas’ best ever, ESPNCricinfo reports. All-rounder Albie Morkel, who earned the Man of the Match of the award for figures of 4-0-12-3, downplayed his role, instead choosing to praise the fielding effort as crucial in clinching the victory for South Africa.
The disciplined bowling effort, which was well backed by the fielders, saw the visitors bundle out India for just 92 runs, thus setting up a comfortable 6-wicket victory. The win at Cuttack sealed the series in favour of South Africa 2-0 with a game to go and the skipper was understandably delighted with the work put in by the bowlers.
"Look it's an easy job to be a captain when your bowlers perform like that. Tonight they were exceptional," du Plessis said after the game. "It's probably the best bowling performance I reckon we've had as a T20 team. So all the discussions and plans that we have had for the batters, it's great to see that tonight everything came together, so really proud of the bowlers."
Du Plessis also had special praise for Morkel, who only came into the side as a late replacement for injured David Wiese.
"It's a great performance. Albie, it's his 50th game and we are really proud of him as a team for playing 50 games for SA. But he's good in those middle overs, he's clever with his lines and lengths, he's played so many T20 games so he's really experienced," du Plessis said. "He was perfect for us tonight in that middle role but I thought there was great variety in the first six overs.”
The variety the 31-year-old is talking about was the short spells give to the South African bowlers with four different players bowling the first four overs. Chris Morris, who bowled the fourth over got the initial breakthrough dismissing Shikhar Dhawan, and Du Plessis was delighted that his ploy worked out and talked about the reasoning behind the move, especially bringing in leg-spinner Imran Tahir in the second over.
"Imran, I don't think he's ever bowled in the first six overs. My thinking was to get a wicket, he's a wicket-taker. So even if he goes for runs, I'm happy as a captain to take that punt. It's a nice change-up. You don't want to be too predictable as a bowling unit. Tonight we weren't," Du Plessis said.
I never thought I'd get the opportunity to play for SA again: Morkel
The star of the South African bowling attack was undoubtedly Albie Morkel, who picked up three wickets giving away only 12 runs. The 34-year-old was elated with his performance and talked about his preparations ahead of the game.
"I arrived on Friday during the first T20 and got one practice session but it's nice," Albie said after the game. "Often it works out well that way, there's not too much time to think about things, straight into the action and I really enjoyed tonight.”
The all-rounder, who last played for South Africa 18 months ago, revealed that he had given up hopes on playing for the national team again ad added that he was happy to have played a role in a winning cause.
"Couple of months ago, I never thought I'd get the opportunity to play for SA again so I am really grateful for that opportunity. Today was my 50th cap, but I think the most important part for me is that we won and with that the series and I am really happy to have played a small part in it," he said.
Morkel further downplayed his role in the victory, crediting the run outs of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as crucial.
"Fielding obviously plays a massive role in T20 cricket. We got two of their big guns through fantastic run-outs and that always puts you on the front foot," Albie said. "I think the wicket suited out bowling attack nicely so we got wickets anyway but those two run-outs really put us on top."