“Laura is a great player, I’m very proud of what she has achieved,” said South African bowler, Ayabonga Khaka, while referring to Laura Wolvaardt’s achievement of becoming the fastest South African to 2000 ODI runs during a masterful innings of 80 that sealed the first ODI against India in South Africa’s favour.  

Khaka attributed South Africa’s win to adapting to the conditions in Lucknow, despite limited training sessions. “We adapted well as a bowling unit. We had only two days to train here,” said Khaka.

Further elaborating on the nature of the pitch, Khaka said, “It was not a bad surface for bowling and batting. During training, we didn’t get that kind of a surface, but today, we adapted to it.”

The South African bowlers were wary of a counterattack when Indian batters, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur, were rebuilding, but they were focused on “sticking to plans.” 

The South Africans were determined to start off the series on a positive note, cognizant of the fact that they did not do well on their last tour to India. “When we came here, we wanted to start this series in the right way. The last time we were here, we didn’t do well as a team,” explained Khaka. 

Having moved from one bio-bubble to the next, Khaka said, “Bubbles are not easy, but we all want to play cricket. We need to follow the rules for the series to go well.” 

Photo: Steve Haag/ BackpagePix