Proteas need more purpose with bat to make India sweat

Several loud “thwacks” echoed around the indoor facility at SuperSport Park on Tuesday where the Proteas showed the kind of intent with the bat that has largely been missing from their T20 play this year. 

South Africa have been inconsistent with the bat in 2024, some of that the result of playing on some dreadful pitches — New York springs to mind — but on other occasions they have lacked intent.

Marco Jansen believes bad option-taking that resulted in too many soft dismissals has undermined their cause with the willow this year. When conditions have been in their favour, they have struggled to find the right balance between when to be aggressive and when they should take their foot off the pedal. 

In this series with India — tied at 1-1 heading into Wednesday's third clash in Centurion — they have struggled against the spin of Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi. In the first match in Durban, the pair rolled through the Proteas in 18 overs and in Gqeberha, Chakravarthy picked up five wickets, making a chase of 125 a lot harder than it should have been. 

“After the first game, we knew we didn’t play our best,” said Jansen. “For the second game the focus was on giving ourselves the best chance to win. We all felt, especially with the bat, that we could have done a bit better in making better decisions or taking a different [option] at a different time.”

Perhaps most notably has been the absence of an impactful innings from skipper Aiden Markram — whose form with the bat in the shortest format has been poor in the past 18 months — Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller. In six innings combined in this series, the trio have scored 56 runs.

Markram’s troubles are hard to fathom, in that he often looks good but gets himself out in a variety of ways. Miller may need to just find his feet again, but Klaasen seems to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

A dip in form for the 33-year-old is forgivable given the way he has performed in white ball formats in the past two years. No-one has been more explosive and his prowess against spin was a standout feature of his play. The expectations for him are now enormous, amplified by his retention in the IPL for a whopping R48m. 

There’s also been mental scarring from playing in and losing all four finals for teams he has featured for in 2024, which includes the World Cup final against India in June. 

A return to homely surroundings at SuperSport Park for him and his good chommie Markram may be just what both need to put smiles back on their faces. Klaasen’s last good innings was there for the Titans in the T20 Challenge, for whom he made an unbeaten 71 against Boland. 

The last time Markram played at his home ground was in January in the SA20.

Whatever is ailing the pair, the prevailing belief in the Proteas camp is all the batters need to show better intent. “If our intent is up, it allows us to get into better positions in various areas of the innings, my mindset is clearer and I get into good positions to score,” said Jansen, who batted at No 5 in Sunday’s run chase but only made seven off 10 balls. 

It’s an option he’d like the team’s brains trust to consider again in the future. “The idea was to go in, assess conditions, take on the spin, which I tried, but it didn’t work. I don’t know if it will continue, but if it does, I won’t be complaining.”

Wednesday’s match starts at 5pm.