Saturday, February 13, 2016

Impact of South African Pace Bowlers in the WT20 2016, India

South Africa is a country that is blessed with a never ending pool of pace bowlers and they have picked up 3 very good fast bowlers for the upcoming World T20 2016. The fact that there is no place for a bowler like Morne Morkel in their 15 man squad speaks volumes about the depth and the quality of fast bowling reserves that the Rainbow nation seems to have at its disposal. They have, in their basket, the best fast bowler of our generation and two rising stars who have a long and bright future ahead of them.

Dale Steyn

Dale Steyn is right up there with the crème de la crème of fast bowling greats that the game of cricket has ever produced. Bowling at a furious pace and generating generous out swing to a right handed batsman, he is virtually unplayable when the conditions offer him even an iota of support. Even otherwise he has a quiver full of tricks to get the best batsmen in the business out. Reverse swing, accurate bouncer, deceptive slower ball – he has them all in his armoury but his greatest asset is the precision of the ball release, the correctness of it, which makes the ball talk, both in the air and off the pitch.

Although his test record is on a different plane altogether, his T20I record is one to envy as well. With 55 wickets in just 38 matches at a strike rate of under 15 and an economy rate of under 7, you have an out and out match winner right here! He will be the greatest asset of this Protea team and the impact that he can have on the batsmen is colossal.

Impact Rating – 8.5/10

Kasigo Rabada

Kasigo Rabada is just 20 years of age but he is already being talked about as the next big thing in world cricket. Regularly clocking above 140kph he makes life difficult with the movement that he is able to generate and the extra bounce that he is able to extract of any deck. He is in sizzling hot form at the moment having scalped 22 wickets in just 3 tests against England in the recently concluded series while also having taken 6 wickets thus far in the three matches of the ongoing ODI series. How effective he can be on the Indian pitches remains to be seen but he has enough talent and skill to excel on the supposedly dead pitches that he will encounter during the tournament.

Impact Rating – 7/10

Kyle Abbott

Abbott has the pace and is highly accurate, traits which he has in common with both Steyn and Rabada. He can move the ball like Steyn and he has a deadly yorker which he uses in the death overs. He has been in splendid form against the English in the ongoing ODI series having picked up 7 wickets in just 3 games while also keeping the runs down. He can play a vital role if called upon to play in the WT20 with his aggressive bowling.

Impact Rating – 7/10

The South Africans surely have all the components to make for a successful event with impact pace bowlers in their ranks who will look to intimidate the batsmen with their pace, aggression and accuracy!

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

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