India’s process of selecting teams has become a topic of quite a bit of discussion lately. Coach Gautam Gambhir has pointed out that flexibility is essential, and he is doing it by constantly rearranging his team so the opposing side is always off guard and tactical variety is retained throughout the series.
On the other hand, South Africa’s coaching staff has a whole different view about it. Shukri Conrad has decided on organized and strategic changes rather than just rotations, indicating that every single change is meant to be a part of their overall game plan.
The approach of the Proteas was shown to be effective during the second T20I in Mullanpur. After suffering through a bad loss in Cuttack, South Africa made three such changes to their squad composition, which were put through careful consideration, and their performance was nothing less than impressive.
These changes played a crucial role in the turnaround of South Africa. Ottneil Baartman took the spotlight as he took four important wickets and also led the bowling attack, which was very convincing. His amazing contribution was the reason for South Africa lifting the series by 51 runs and then the teams going to Dharamshala for the final showdown all tied up.
“It’s certainly not changes for the sake of being changes”- South Africa Coach
“It might look as if we’re slightly unsure given the amount of changes we make every match,” Conrad explained. “But it’s certainly not changes for the sake of being changes.
“We have a pretty good idea of what our World Cup squad will be like. Again, it’s really just managing players. There are a few guys that have been here since the Test Series. And then we’ve also got SA20 after this. So really just about managing players. And then also giving everybody a good run. See what works here, what doesn’t work. But yeah, we’re pretty clear in terms of what we want,” the South Africa coach added.
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