Veteran South Africa opener Hashim Amla thinks than teammate Kagiso Rabada and India pace ace Jasprit Bumrah are the best in the world.
Both bowlers were impressive on Wednesday but the Indian came out trumps with his 2/35 in 10 overs, which included Amla’s wicket.
“Bumrah and KG [Rabada] are the two best bowlers in world right now. They have pace, accuracy and can bowl at any stage of the game. Both South Africa and India are fortunate to have them,” Amla said.
Amla been dismissed a few times by Bumrah but he denied that it plays on his mind. “Bumrah is a helluva bowler and that’s what good bowlers do but I don’t think they play on your mind as such as you need to assess the pitch and play accordingly. If you can’t then you watch the game from the change room,” he said.
Amla admitted that South Africa didn’t expect the conditions to be seamer friendly. “I don’t think anyone anticipated the wicket to be what it was,” he said.
“We expected it to be a bit more high scoring. That’s why we included an attacking option in left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi but it turned out to be more seamer friendly which we hadn’t anticipated.”
Three back-to-back defeats has seen the press in South Africa call for wholesale changes in the squad. Responding to the criticism, Amla said: “There is no rocket science answer to this. Obviously we would now introspect for a day or two as to what went wrong.”
“Once we have done that, we need to go back to the drawing board, reassess and try to execute that in training.”
Amla believes that South Africa’s worst start in their World Cup history would help reverse the trend considering having not won earlier editions despite starting well.
He added, “Very disappointing to have lost, Especially three in a row. In earlier World Cups we have played really well but never won the tournament.
“This could be the other way round. Imagine that, where we start badly and then play our better cricket now. Obviously we need to win five or six games and hopefully we can do that.”
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!