SA get Guru Gary to pull India down

Rohit Mahajan

Melbourne, February 18

At the Junction Oval ground today, the South Africans prepared for the weekend battle with India. Absent from practice was Dale Steyn, their demon bowler, who's down with a flu.

But very much present, and in vigorous action, was Gary Kirsten, the former Indian coach, now a consultant with the South African team. Kirsten is a wiry man who last played for his nation 11 years ago; he's 47, and yet he possesses the energy of a 20-year-old. He arrived here this morning, after attending the IPL auction in Bangalore, for he's the coach of Delhi Daredevils — a man must earn his millions somewhere, to pay for the Ferrari in the garage.

But the World Cup is the real deal, and he's a South African. Those two facts are enough to energise Kirsten. The time difference of five-and-a-half hours from Bangalore, and the flight from Bangalore, didn't seem to have tired Kirsten. In some 20 minutes, he did a session of rapidfire throw-downs at Farhaan Behardien, who was 31 years and 132 days today. Behardien, the right-hand bat, wanted to work on his defence on or just outside his off-stump. Kirsten, throwing the ball from halfway down the pitch, made Behardien sweat. In less than 20 minutes, Kirsten threw the ball 90 times towards the batsman, directing the ball at one particular line and length. That's some 15 overs of bowling played by Behardien in 20 minutes. It's high-intensity stuff. They were training his muscles and his instinct to react in a consistent manner to deliveries of a certain kind. At the end of it all, Behardien was a spent force, in need of a break. Kirsten was good to go, on and on.

Kirsten, a top player in his own right, earned his reputation as a strong-shoulder man during his stint as the India coach. He had the ability to direct throw-downs at the Indian batsmen, particularly Sachin Tendulkar, tirelessly for what seemed like an eternity.

After Kirsten exited the Indian system in 2011, after coaching the Indian team to the World Cup title, the Indians hired a throw-down specialist, Raghavendra. The coach of the last four years, Duncan Fletcher, weighty and elderly, is not prone to break into any activity that requires energy. He is more likely to fold his arms across his considerable chest and launch a stream of words rather than action. He's a watcher rather than an actor in the Indian nets sessions.

The method of Fletcher, an African who played for Zimbabwe, is different from the method of the South Africans. The Proteas engaged in much activity today. Wayne Parnell had a session of boxing with trainer Gregory King. King is a South African national who was with the Indian team until 2008. Parnell actually had boxing gloves on. How this helps in cricket is anyone's guess. Steyn, the fearsome fast bowler, has been in a state of illness for over four days. After the win over Zimbabwe, Steyn had complained of a throat that's sore and a nose that's blocked. In that match, he didn't touch heights of excellence -- he bowled nine overs for 64 runs as the Zimbabweans put up a terrific performance.

Steyn's numbers against Zimbabwe don't boggle the mind. On Sunday in Melbourne, Steyn may or may not play a decisive role against India, but he's the last man the opposition would dismiss outright. He's got three days to get into peak fitness. Also present in the South African camp today was Michael Hussey, the lesser of Australia's Hussey brothers. South Africa have hired him to get an insight into the conditions in Australia.

If India dread South Africa, the South Africans are wary of the Indians. India have never beaten South Africa in the World Cup, but they represent the only challenge to South Africa for supremacy in Pool B. South Africa have the weapons to dismantle India. They've got AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla and Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn. They also have Quinton de Kock, who's got three tons in his last three innings against India. You'd imagine that they'd be very confident against India. But their past haunts them. Their World Cup history is full of inexplicable chokes and fears. They want to be absolutely sure this time.

Quick singles

‘Gary in SA camp won't make much difference’

Even as South Africa plot India's downfall with the help of Gary Kirsten and Mike Hussey, Sunil Gavaskar today felt their presence would not make much of a difference . "Kirsten knows how people react in the Indian dressing room. Hussey has also played in the IPL. They will try and tell how to play the Indian spinners, how to negotiate 20 overs of spin," the former captain said. Chappell said, "Those guys will only help (South Africa) if India think too much about Kirsten and Hussey. These things are peripheral." 

Akram offers to help Pak, but with a rider 

Wasim Akram has expressed his keenness to help the Pakistani team but only if the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) approaches him. "The irony is neither the Pakistan cricket authorities nor anyone in the team has approached me to help or advise them," said Akram. 

Fielding coach hasn’t resigned, says PCB      

Pakistan team management today denied reports that fielding coach Grant Luden had threatened to resign after a tiff with a few senior players and said that he will continue to serve in his current role. Pakistan Cricket Board media manager Agha Akbar refuted reports that there was a tiff between Luden and three players -- Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad -- during a training session yesterday after which the fielding coach sent a message to the PCB Chairman threatening to step down. — Agencies