DURBAN: South African pacer Dale Steyn has warned the Indian team to “expect more aggressive bowling” in the second ODI here on Sunday, saying that the visiting batsmen might end up “frightened” by their pace attack.
Fresh from stunning the Men in Blue in the first match at Johannesburg, the fast bowler suggested that his team will not be letting up on their intensity and will be looking to seal the series here.
“In India the ball doesn’t get higher than the stumps. This is not Mumbai. Here, they cannot score easily in different areas and it is going to be hard to play here. And there is more of that coming on Sunday.
“Hopefully we can have a similar performance (as in Johannesburg) as we did the other night, and we should be able to come through with a victory. It is a massive game for us, we have the chance to seal the series here and we would like to do so,” said Steyn.
In the first ODI, Indian bowlers were clueless on a fast and bouncy wicket, as they conceded 358 runs to the Proteas. Thereafter, the Indian batsmen were clueless against the mighty pace of Steyn and company.
In fact, it came as a disappointment to the hosts that they weren’t challenged more by the number one side.
Meanwhile, India vice-captain Virat Kohli dismissed Steyn’s notion that he and his teammates were ‘frightened’ of the Proteas’ attack, saying they were good enough to tackle the host pace battery.
“I don’t think anyone in this Indian team is frightened of anything. On a personal level, I don’t think so. Off the fourth ball I was down the wicket. It is not about getting frightened, he is a quality bowler and we all know that. We should be good enough to tackle that and come up with the goods when we face them,” Kohli asserted.
“Regardless of the loss the other day, you didn’t see anyone closing their eyes or swinging their bats around,” the aggressive Indian batsman, who batted at number three in Johannesburg and faced the initial onslaught of their pace battery, added.
Kohli, though was effusive in his praise for Steyn. “He was quite brilliant the other day, he is a world class bowler and we all know that. To bowl three maiden overs when we are chasing 359 is a skill that is very rare. To see him swing the ball from middle stumps and get it past the off-stump, actually the fifth off-stump, it was tough to face but it was something very rare because not many can swing the ball like he does,” Kohli said.
“We were trying hard to counter the bowling they came up with and they were bowling in great areas and no one was moving away from stumps…,” he said. (PTI)
