Charl Langeveldt is putting a strong emphasis on South Africa’s bowling in T20’s as they start preparing for the tour of India next month.
South Africa embark on a mammoth 72-day tour to the subcontinent later this month where they will play three T20Is, five ODIs and four Tests.
Langeveldt is holding a three-day bowling camp with Gauteng-based Proteas bowlers this week and said a big part of the focus will be geared towards the T20s, which kickstarts the tour.
‘The T20s are the most important at the moment,’ Langeveldt said in Centurion.
‘It’s a World Cup year and bowling in India is a different mind-set. There will be three T20 matches so I want them [bowlers] to be ready when we hit India. We only have one warm-up match and two practices, then we are in the game. I feel that we have to start building it up so we don’t try to overload ourselves by the time we get to India.’
Langeveldt says he has focused more on changing the mind-set and awareness for the expected conditions, along with some technical and skills-specific aspects which he doesn’t normally have time to focus on during the tour. While it is difficult to simulate the pressured environment and the conditions to be expected on the sub-continent, he has tried to create certain situations for the players to respond to.
‘Some of the guys have been to India and played IPL so they know what to expect,” he said. “All I can do is to try and put them under pressure by asking them to maybe bowl four balls in the same area and change it up with a slower ball or yorker. It is difficult but we have to do the best that we can in these circumstances.’
The selected squad to India features an exciting group of fast bowlers who will be pushing for places across all three formats, an element which excites Langeveldt and is a good indication of the healthy fast-bowling resources at hand.
‘I think it’s already happening,’ he said of the youngsters pushing for places. ‘It’s a good thing, it’s what we want. You want a battery of bowlers who are competing amongst each other. If you have guys competing for the same spot everyone will lift their game, it’s important that we have competition.’
That, however, does not necessarily mean Kagiso Rabada will make his Test debut soon.
‘We’re winning Test matches at the moment, so it’s going to be hard for Kagiso to get into the side and India is going to be even harder because we might even play two spinners.
‘We’ve got three seam bowlers that have done well for South Africa for a number of years now but if an injury comes along then you never know.’
The Proteas depart for India on Saturday, 26 September.
