De Villiers wary of Saeed Ajmal – Cricket News Update
South African batsmen will study the video tapes of Saeed Ajmal’s bowling to prepare themselves to counter the wily off-spinner, when they face Pakistan in a World T20 Super Eight fixture, at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, on Friday, September 28, 2012. This was revealed by the Proteas skipper AB de Villiers during a media interaction on the eve of the summit clash.
The 28-year-old Pretoria wicketkeeper batman admitted that Ajmal was a class bowler and a lot of batsmen in the world have failed to read him.
“He is still a world-class bowler. I don't think a lot of the guys are reading him. We will watch the video analysis,” South Africa’s limited overs skipper told media reporters at the pre-match press conference on Thursday.
“That's a different story when you are out there you have got to watch the ball closely and I think even world-class players can't read him,” De Villiers conceded.
Ajmal, the top ranked ODI and T20 International bowler, and third only to South Africa’s Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander in the ICC Test rankings, has so far picked up ten wickets in Pakistan’s ongoing World T20 campaign in Sri Lanka, including the warm-up matches against India and England.
Bangladesh and New Zealand adopted a blanket approach to the wily spinner in the Group D fixtures, both ending in Pakistan’s way. However, South Africans are expected to launch an all-out attack against the Pakistan spinner, come the opening Super Eight encounter, at Colombo, on Friday.
"We have a good all-round team and we'll just come out on Friday and focus on our strengths," said De Villiers, who has so far played 41 T20 Internationals, scoring 723 runs at 22.59, besides 44 dismissals behind the stumps.
South African’s rely heavily on their pace attack, featuring the likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and veteran Jacques Kallis. But de Villiers is expecting the wicket at the R Premadasa to take turn, and hinted at playing two specialist spinners.
“Two spinners looks like the way forward,” said the Proteas skipper. “But we obviously can decide tomorrow, there are still a lot of things to think about,” concluded de Villiers.
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