JOIN US Hashim Amla, who has had a great record against India on previous tours, admitted that batting conditions on offer this time around did him in.
While he eventually managed to spend enough time in the middle on the third day of the third Test here, the right-hander felt facing someone like Anil Kumble on this kind of wicket would have been a nightmare for him.
“You know, somebody mentioned the law of averages,” he said on his poor returns on this tour. “You can’t keep scoring runs against the same team all the time, although you would like to. I put it down more to (wickets), I think the wickets were a lot more challenging. I know the first time I came to India in 2008 and even in 2010, facing Anil Kumble, Harbhajan (Singh). I think if I had to face them on these kinds of wickets I wouldn’t have got any runs either, so I put it down more to the wickets.”
Amla didn’t agree that South African batsmen have lacked the skills and technique to cope with the conditions. “I remember facing Anil in Chennai and certainly facing him here would have been a nightmare, so I think the wickets have played their part in making it difficult for all the batters.
“There hasn’t been a hundred in the series yet, handful of fifties at least, in both teams, so it would be harsh to say that this South African team has struggled to score runs, I think if you look at the Indian team, although they are on the winning side, it’s been tough for their batters as well, and given the quality of spinners the Indians do have, obviously it’s going to be a lot more tough for us in these conditions.”