Visakhapatnam, Oct 8: Smriti Mandhana might not yet have fired in this Women’s World Cup, but keeping the talismanic Indian opener silent tops the wish list of South Africa, said all-rounder Nadine de Klerk on Wednesday.
Mandhana has a wonderful record in ODIs against South Africa, having scored 906 runs from 18 matches at an average of 53.29 with three hundreds.
“Yeah, she’s a quality player. She’s 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,” De Klerk said on the eve of the match against India.
Mandhana and her opening partner Pratika Rawal have amassed 1200 runs in just 15 innings together at an incredible average of 80, and Klerk wanted to snap that alliance early.
“We will try and break that opening stand that’s been so successful for them 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.
De Klerk said starting well with both bat and ball holds the key for South Africa against India in their own conditions. Indian bowlers have been spot on in this World Cup, and De Klerk said South Africa will prepare for a spin-heavy attack of the home side. (PTI)
