No great positives apart from AB’s 85, says Hashim Amla

Following a humiliating loss in the first Test and rain playing spoilsport in the second in Bengaluru, South Africa skipper Hashim Amla vows his side will stage a comeback in the third Test to be played at Nagpur next week.

On the opening day, Proteas were bowled out after just two sessions for a modest total but after that followed four days of poor weather and incessant rain. “(Hopefully), the weather in Nagpur is a lot more cricket friendly. But we had similar experience in Bangladesh as well not too long ago. We just lost a few days of cricket and nothing to take on our mind. Yes, we need to look ahead and focus on the next game,” said the 32-year-old Amla.

Even on a first day track at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, South Africa slumped to a modest total, falling to the Indian spinners. “I think if I had won the toss, I would’ve batted first anyway. It was a very good wicket; we just didn’t get going with partnerships. AB (de Villiers) was exceptional as always. Unfortunately, no one stuck around long enough to post a big total,” he explained. 

Apart from de Villiers’ 85 in his 100th Test game at his favourite venue, Amla frankly admitted to have found no positives. “From a team point of view, I don’t see a great lot of positives to take out, to be quite honest with you. Every time there’s a disappointing session or a disappointing day of cricket, it’s a reflection that happens. That reflection is probably more valuable than most things,” Amla claimed.

“The most I can take out of it is similar to what I took out of Bangladesh, when the games got rained out. Dale got 400 Test wickets and we held on to that. Now AB played his 100th Test and did pretty well. We’re pretty chuffed about that,” he added.

In the rain-curtailed game, Proteas’ speedster Dale Steyn was sidelined owing to a grain strain and Amla was hoping to field the star pacer in the next Test. “I am not 100 per cent sure what the exact prognosis is but if he is ready for the next certainly it would be great to have the world’s No.1 (bowler) back in our team. If he was fully fit, he would have played this Test match,” he said.