Dane van Niekerk bemoans absence of bowling plans

South Africa women captain Dane van Niekerk bemoaned the absence of bowling plans on a 'belter of a wicket' as India completed a successful run-chase to draw first blood in the five-match T20I series on Tuesday (February 13). This came after the South African batters had put up quite a show to post 164 for 4 in 20 overs.

"I just think there were no plans. It didn't look like a bowler came in running with a plan," van Niekerk said after the defeat. "We bowled both sides of the wicket, we bowled two different lengths. Its difficult to set fields for balls like that. It's not consistent bowling."

"I think it [total of 164] was par. Initially I thought it was going to be slow, but it was actually a belter of a wicket. I spent a lot of time there so I could see what was hard to hit and what not, but there were very few balls tough to hit. I thought 160 was okay, but I said to the girls halfway that only half the job was done. It's a belter of a wicket and we have to bowl well, but we didn't," van Niekerk added.

The skipper also pointed out that the failure was down to lack of execution of the plans that they entered the T20I series with, and called for a return to the drawing board. Van Niekerk went as far as stating that only one of her bowlers - Moseline Daniels (1 for 16) - 'did really well'.

"Going into the T20 series we had plans, but execution was quite disappointing as a captain. It is very difficult to pull things back. We just pulled it back and there's another big over. Moseline Daniels bowled brilliant well. She's the only that I can point out and say she bowled to a plan and she did really well. We've got to go back to the drawing board, we've got to have a tough chat. It's necessary, specially my senior bowlers need to put their hands up."

Player of the Match, Mithali Raj, was understandably delighted with the start that India have made in their preparation for the World T20 in November this year.

"Yes [happy], I think it [winning start] was very important since it is preparation for T20 World Cup. It is more than imperative that the girls and the team as a unit start preparing for this format. It gives us lot of confidence getting into the next game," Raj said.

India were also buoyed by the presence of several debutants in the line-up. One such youngster - the Mumbai batting sensation Jemimah Rodrigues - smashed a 27-ball 37, adding a 69-run partnership with her captain Raj, that took the game away from the hosts.

"It is good to have youngsters in the squad. Usually when you have some new members, they get a lot of positive energy into the team and they're quite active on the ground too so you can get to see that energy being very infectious. It is also good to bat with them, then you know that you have partners. Like you had with Smriti [Mandhana]. Of course she's a seasoned player now. We have Jemimah now, she's come in, she's a debutant, she's played a very useful knock," Raj said.

Raj also explained what she picked up about the nature of the surface while India were fielding.

"There was bounce on the wicket, unlike the last time when we toured for the quadrangular series. Maybe because it was end of the season and we were getting into the winters. But now there is good enough bounce and there is a lot of help for the batters, because when there is bounce in the wicket, you don't get much movement on the new ball. You just have to play for the bounce. That gives us the leverage to go for aerial shots in the first six overs which we saw in the South Africa batting innings. Anything pitched up or slightly short of length, they were easily able to clear the infield. That is something I picked while fielding."

India truly made the most of the observation, smashing 66 runs in the batting powerplay and laying down the marker for the rest of the chase, which they completed with seven balls to spare.