Ahead of the match, which will be held on February 22 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, South Africa, batting coach Ashwell Prince reacts to the Indian opener’s continued off form.
During an exclusive interview with Times Now, Ashwell Prince did not want to make a direct comment to opposition players. He clearly indicated that his team’s focus is entirely on the upcoming matches.
The match between India and South Africa will be equally crucial for both teams. The winner will take a step forward to the semi-finals, and the defeated side will have to win the rest of the two matches to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
Despite Abhishek Sharma’s back-to-back ducks, the former South African opener praised the Indian batsman and described him as a fantastic player. Prince explains that every individual player has highs and lows; Abhishek Sharma, a young batsman, will experience a lot of this.
Abhishek Sharma is a fantastic player: batting coach of South Africa
“I obviously don’t want to comment too much on any person in the Indian team. At the end of the day, he is a young man, and he will learn that in his cricketing career. He will have highlights, and that will happen a lot more in the future; it won’t just happen once in a lifetime,” Prince said.
“But he is a fantastic player and we know how dangerous he can be. But from our side, our focus is not on any of the Indian players,” the South Africa batting coach opined.
Ashwell Prince, 48, emphasized that their sole focus is on the entire Team India and not just an individual. He acknowledged India’s batting prowess and said the Proteas put in their efforts to surpass the opposition’s total.
“They have a strong line-up. So we have to focus on the whole line-up and the whole team and try to see how we can score one more point than them. That is the target. So like I said, the focus on the Indian team is not just on one player,” he added.
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The former international believes that all three matches in the Super 8 will be very competitive. Besides India, they will also have to face West Indies and New Zealand, who topped their respective groups. But for now, South Africa is only paying attention to the match against India.
“It’s a big match tomorrow, but so are the matches, the rest of the matches in the Super 8s, against West Indies, who were also top of their group, and against Zimbabwe, who were also top of their group. So the three matches as a whole will all be tough games. The focus for now is on tomorrow’s match against India,” concluded Ashwell Prince.
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