South Africa definitely did not bat like the number one test side in the first test against India at Mohali. The Proteas looked faded and it seemed that they did not want to apply themselves in an accurate way. A lot of wickets of the South African batsmen were due to playing poor strokes, rather than the demons within the pitch. Skipper Hashim Amla admitted that some of the decisions taken by the visitors while batting were far from correct.
“We could have applied ourselves better,” Amla said. “There were decisions we made while we were batting that were not the right decisions.
“The chat we had was that the ball’s not turning that much, actually,” Amla said. “There were quite a few dismissals from both teams from a lack of turn rather than excessive turn.”
Reflecting on his own dismissal where he left the ball, Amla said, “It’s a matter of playing the ball or not playing the ball. If I’d played it I probably would have hit it in the middle of the bat.”
The skipper also spoke about promoting Philander to open the innings. “We thought we would mix it up and get a right-hander up front. Vernon has one of the most solid techniques and he has done a great job for us at No. 7, including against the new ball,” Amla said. “It was a good idea if Ashwin was going to bowl. It would have panned out well for us the way Stiaan batted with Dale to come.”
“Throughout this Test match, even though it was such a short Test match, we managed to hold our own right into the last innings,” Amla said. “They could have got away from us with about 250 or 300 in the last innings, and that would have been exceptionally difficult. The way we bowled and applied ourselves in the field was very good.”