Former India captain Suni Gavaskar feels the recent appointments in South Africa’s backroom staff – adding supercoach Gary Kirsten and Aussie Mike Hussey as consultants ahead of their World Cup encounter against India on Sunday – will help the Proteas only if Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men start thinking too much about it.
Both appointments are interesting when viewed in context of their match against India. Kirsten was the coach when India won the Cup in 2011, and Hussey has played with Chennai Super Kings for many years, thus possessing good inside knowledge of how India and CSK captain Dhoni operates.
However, only three players from that 2011 team – Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Ashwin Krishnan – are still part of the team, and Gavaskar said: “Kirsten knows how people react in the Indian dressing room. Hussey has also played in the IPL.
“They will probably try and tell them how to negotiate 20 overs of spin. It will help to an extent but then a lot depends on how they play on the field. It will only help South Africa if India start thinking too much about Kirsten and Hussey.”
Kirsten is expected to give 50 days in a year to the Proteas, while Hussey’s appointment is just for the duration of the World Cup.
Setback for Bravo
It really wasn’t the best of days for West Indies’ Darren Bravo.
First, he was almost knocked out by a full-blooded thrown from cover by Younis Khan while taking a single.
The ball smashed into Bravo’s head and he needed immediate medical attention for several minutes before staggering back on his feet.
And later, when on 48, he took a quick single, which resulted in him injuring his left hamstring, and he was down again. This time, he needed assistance to be carried out of the field.
The news from the West Indies dressing room was the he was taken to the hospital for an MRI scan and there is a low-grade tear in the hamstring.
He is now definitely out of West Indies’s next two matches – against Zimbabwe on Tuesday, February 24, and against South Africa in Sydney on February 27.
He is expected to return to action for the match against India on March 6 at Perth.
And to make matters worse, Bravo returned from the hospital to find he had been called by the ICC match referee David Boon.
He was reprimanded for a Level 1 breach of ICC’s Code of Conduct for audible obscenity.
