Image Credit- AFP
Top-ranked South Africa is guaranteed a top-four
finish in the World Cup standings, but its skipper Temba Bavuma admitted that
“conversations” would be had on their strategy for run-chases
following their thrilling one-wicket victory over Pakistan in Chennai.
Up until now in the competition, South Africa has been
a team with two different personalities. They have been formidable when they
have batted first, amassing totals of 428, 311, 399, and 382 in four commanding
wins over Bangladesh, Australia, England, and Sri Lanka.
But it has been a different story when pursuing. They
lost by 38 runs after being bowled out for 207 in an embarrassing fashion
against the Netherlands in Dharamsala, and their chase of 271 against Pakistan
almost exactly followed the same script. They lost 5 for 54 in the following
12.3 overs after leading by 206 for 4 with 17 overs to go until the last duo of
Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj carried them over the finish line with an
uninterrupted 11-run stand.
“It was a nail-biting finish,” Bavuma said
at the post-match presentations. “Obviously, if you are a South African
fan, you’re a little bit happier at the outcome.
“With the batting, there’s obviously been
pressure with us chasing, and we haven’t done well to rectify that. We’ll
obviously have conversations, but it will be easier now to have those
conversations with the win. But it was due to our doing that we allowed the
game to get to that point.”
The way South Africa collapsed would have been seen by
their opponents, especially New Zealand and India, who they will certainly face
again in the knockout stages given how easily they have been dominating the
death overs while batting first.
The wobble started when Shaheen Shah Afridi, the best
seam batsman for Pakistan with 3 for 45 in his 10 overs, was overcome by David
Miller, scoring 29 from 32. After hitting a potent straight six, Marco Jansen
then spooned a straightforward chance to backward point off Haris Rauf, moving
to 20 from 14.
“The guys who were there in the pressure
situations [would need to] truly speak out as to what they were thinking in
terms of emotions, in terms of their game-plans,” Bavuma added. “It’s
hard to say now, I’m still enjoying the victory myself, but those conversations
will happen.”
“It’s something that we’ve spoken about, it’s
obviously something that has been thrown about,” he added. “We
obviously have a blueprint when batting first, and we’ve shown that in terms of
the scores we have been able to post.
“We can’t say with conviction that we do have the
blueprint when we are chasing. We’re going to get into this situation again,
that I do know, and we obviously want to show a lot more of a clinical display
with the bat.”