Former country’s star batsman Hashim Amla believes that the sudden retirement of veteran Quinton de Kock has further crippled South Africa’s weak batting line-up.
At 29, de Kock took time off from his Test career last week citing family reasons, although the wicketkeeper-batsman will continue to play in the shorter formats of the game.
Amla is worried about the development, at a time when the home team is down 0-1 against a formidable Indian team in the ongoing three-match Test series.
“Our two best batsmen in the middle are Temba (Bavuma) and Quinton.
“Now that Quinton is out of Test cricket, it further paralyzes the batting order and, now more than ever, it makes it imperative for Temba to bat high – whether it is three or four, he Give yourself time to play a solid role. Unlike a recovery,” Amla was quoted as saying by Sport24.
However, Amla believed that the Proteas could still make a comeback and defend their record of never losing a home series to India.
“There’s definitely a way out, but it’s going to take a laser-like focus for an extended period of time and touch a fortune,” Amla said.
Amla said, “(Captain) Dean (Elgar) and Aiden (Markram) are players in a class who have hundreds and if they get the pace, it will definitely calm the nerves and is a must for youngsters. Will give you confidence.”
India lost the opening Test by 113 runs after the Proteas were bowled out for 197 and 191 at Centurion’s SuperSport Park.
Amla, who has scored over 9,000 Test runs and also captained the side, conceded a “fair” result in the opener.
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Amla, who scored two double centuries at Centurion during his career against West Indies (2014) and England (2016), said, “It was a fair result.”
The Centurion is notorious for becoming more difficult to bat with as the day progresses.
“So once India won the toss, batted and scored over 300, it was up to the Protea batsmen to at least match that score.
“It really hurt him to be 130 runs behind, and it made up the difference,” Amla concluded.
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