http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AB-de-Villiers-c887 has to create his own legacy - Opinion
The inevitability of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757’s Super Eight round elimination in the ICC World T20 was another instance, where team was unable to get rid of their tag of chokers in international cricket.
In hindsight, the manner of their defeats were hardly capitulating – a somewhat predictable loss against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and India – but somewhere, a sense of familiarity remained in the way they eventually
bowed out of the competition.
They enter every tournament as one of the teams to beat, and arguably strangle the opposition into submission, only to suffer a similar fate in the end. They went into the World T20 having attained the no.1 position in Test cricket, and performed well in
the shorter formats in a testing English summer.
They had the men in form – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Allan-Robert-Border-c43726 de Villiers controlled the middle-order, while the bowling attack had another dimension owing to the presence of
effective, if not world-class, slow bowlers in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RJ-Peterson-c2332. To add to that, they are arguably the best fielding side, a factor which has always helped them keep edge over their opponents.
Despite having all the areas covered, it was the mental barrier of the side which again overshadowed their performances on the pitch. One cannot even attribute their bowing out to a bad day at the office. Simply, as their skipper admitted after defeat to
India, they choked under pressure.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 events, and was forced to claim that a dark mist sits over the team. Their premature exit however, still cannot be attributed to a lack of resources.
Surely, other teams would love to have someone like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DW-Steyn-c1409 in their ranks (just ask India), but on the other side of the coin, the Proteas would surely be more than happy to have a captain, whose pressure-handling abilities are similar to that of Mahendra
Singh Dhoni.
Over the years, teams have been blessed with individual talent but their road to victory is only accomplished until they find a man, who is capable of getting the best out his players under testing circumstances.
That http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. It will be hard to criticize de Villiers, and one must admire his straightforwardness but given the long journey ahead, where
teams will come hard on them now that they have become the no.1 Test side and will exploit their mental weaknesses at global events, he will need to create his own legacy if South Africa are to achieve success.
His tactics at the World T20 need to be scrutinized somewhat, given his insistence to bat down the order, and persisting with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Richard-Levi-c2315 at the top. While a periodic assessment may be the right way, for de Villiers, it’s high time that he asserts his own
philosophy into the team.
They have the necessary resources but failing miserably at the business end of an event is something which needs to be addressed, not by the management, but the skipper himself. Instead of donning the tag, he must ensure that the team breaks free from it.
A break from Cricket – de Villiers was ruled out of the Champions League T20 – might be a blessing in disguise.
Disclaimer: Any views and opinions expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: