After the successful limited overs leg of their India tour, the South African team is now gearing up for the four-match Test series. The Test specialists joined the team ahead of the fifth ODI in Mumbai and the preparations are in full swing. Stiaan van Zyl, the opening batsman, is one of the members of the Test side to recently join the team. And as he prepared for the warm-up match against the Board President XI at the CCI, he said he looks forward to putting up a good show in the Test matches.
Although van Zyl is new to the Test fold with five matches under his belt, he had a taste of the Indian wickets playing for South Africa A against India A in August. He had a good outing too, scoring 96 in the first innings of the match at Wayanad. Van Zyl said the experience will help him as he embarks on his first Test series in India.
“I had a decent time in the game at Kerela, got some runs. I got some confidence from it,” he said. Playing on the subcontinent wickets and doing okay has made me confident about my game. But Test cricket is a different kettle of fish and I am looking forward to it.
“I was fortunate to have played so many overs in a day in the A game in Kerala with guys around the bat. You have to find a way to get off the strike because it will get difficult if they sit on you and put pressure. Getting off the strike and putting a loose ball away is crucial.
“The nature of the Indian wickets is slow so you are allowed to play on the backfoot most of the times. Most of our guys have played a lot of cricket here, in the IPL and the T20I and ODI series. They know quite well what the wickets do here.
What will also help van Zyl is that he played a couple of Tests in Bangladesh, on similar kind of wickets. As an opener, he has got the hang of how the pitches play and how he has to go about his job with the bat.
“It is a lot easier to open the batting in the subcontinent, building the innings and taking it through. It is about surviving the tough phases and scoring when the loose balls come through,” he said.
The opener is also prepared for the fact that the visitors will be dealing with a lot of spin bowling in the series. He has been picking the brains of his team-mates who have played in India before – the likes of Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers – and also Michael Hussey, who has joined the team as the batting consultant.
“It is good as a young player to have people like that around to tap into their knowledge, picking their brains. They know a lot, they know all the stadiums and the wickets. And we have got Mike Hussey as well helping us out.
“The wickets tend to be slower. We will face a lot of spin here, so working on your game against the spinners is crucial coming. You cannot neglect the seam bowling upfront but you have to have it at the back of your mind that you will face a lot of spin. You have to survive the good phases and cash in on when you can.”
As the Proteas sweated it out in the nets on the eve of the practice game, van Zyl spent a lot of time bowling his medium pacers after having a stint with the bat. He said he wants to be prepared to roll his arm over for when the captain is looking for a breakthrough or wants to give his premiere pace bowlers some rest.
“I see myself as a bit of an all-rounder. If there are stages where the main bowlers need rest, I can come in and bowl a few overs and stop an end. It is a positive thing that I can bat and bowl and it brings something to the team as well. I would love to bowl,” he said.
