Duminy satisfied with match-winning knock on return

DHARAMSHALA: And to think that the warm-up game against India A at the Palam Air Force ground was his first in any form of cricket in over two months. On a day when India's Rohit Sharma produced one of the most breathtaking innings of his career, JP Duminy had the last laugh with an unbeaten 34-ball 68. He launched an all-out attack on the Indian bowlers to get South Africa home by seven wickets.
Duminy had one of the most intense practice sessions in the nets, knocking a wet ball which was part of a plan to tackle the conditions in Dharamshala. On Monday, he registered an identical score - another unbeaten 68 which acted as a much-needed match practice ahead of a big series.
"The warm-ups played a huge part; it was my first hit-out in almost two months. Obviously after having two months off, you'd want to make sure that you start off with a bang. [I] thoroughly enjoyed the break but at the same time I needed to hit the ground running as quickly as I could," Duminy said.
Even when Rohit was going hammer and tongs in the first innings, there were quite a few lapses from the South Africa side on the field, and it was visible from their skipper Faf du Plessis' face how unpleased he was with their efforts. Duminy even highlighted that even though Rohit's effort was monumental, his side stopping runs in the death was an important moment in the match.
"In the last four days, we've spoken a lot about competing. So irrespective of what was thrown at us, we needed to counter-punch and ensure we get the things going. He played a wonderful innings, but I believe the way we came back in the last 3-4 overs was good from us. Maybe 20 more runs and India would have run away with the game."
Even though it was Duminy whose exploits turned out to be the difference between the two sides, the base of the chase was wonderfully set up by Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers, who put up 77 for the opening wicket. Duminy, South Africa's leading run-getter in T20Is, elaborated that they were aware of the start being important.
"The start was very crucial for us. We knew that for chasing down a big total, we needed to start well. The key for us was that we didn't lose wickets in the first six overs. The way AB [de Villiers] and Hash [Amla] played was incredible," added Duminy.
South Africa were coasting at one point, scoring runs at almost 12 an over in the first six over. However, the dismissal of Amla, De Villiers and skipper Du Plessis must have given them some worries. But once Duminy displayed his intent with his first six off Axar Patel, you knew he meant business. Aiding him at the other end was Farhaan Behardien, who was happy playing second fiddle.
"We tried our best just to stay in the moment and understand what was required from us at that point of time. We've batted together quite a few times now so our communication is improving every game. Our main focus was to try and put on a partnership and required run rate was close to the 12-13 mark, and we tried to keep up to it as much as we could," Duminy said of the chase.
"The turning point though I think was the 16th over. I think Ashwin's last over went for about eight runs or so. Hence, we needed to make up for that somewhere, which we got off Axar [Patel]; his last over was great for us."
Apart from his match-winning knock and Rohit's century, the one thing that was the talk of town was dew. Both teams at one point or the other, knew that it was going to be a factor and Duminy mentioned that he had faith in his side to gun down a total as stiff as 200.
"We had a fielding practice two nights ago, and we realised that there was quite a lot of dew around. We kind of had an idea that it was going to be a factor in this match so we always backed our batting line-up to chase any total. Fortunately, it worked out for us today."
For the coming matches though, this is what he had to say: "It all depends on the conditions. Kolkata and Cuttack - the venues for the next two T20s - might not be the same. We're going to access the things when we get there, and make sure we make the right decision on the day."