Imran Tahir’s inclusion changed Graeme Smith’s leadership approach, feels Ian Chappell – Cricket News Update
After beating England in the first Test of the series at the Oval, the South African skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ian-Michael-Chappell-c63914, who believes that the induction of the leg-spinner, Imran Tahir, changed the
left-handed opener’s approach as a captain.
The Proteas dismantled the Poms by a comprehensive margin of an innings and 12 runs to strengthen their claim of being the number one ranked Test team of the globe.
In his article for ESPNcricinfo, the former Australian captain slammed the negative tactics of Andrew Strauss, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 captain, and expressed that contrasting attitudes of the two captains turned out to be the difference between the sides.
Chappell is of the opinion that Smith also used to be a defensive captain, just like his English counterpart, but thinks that the 31-year-old cricketer learned to be aggressive to dismantle the top Test teams, who do not offer loopholes to the oppositions.
“http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 have used the same ploy for much of their existence, and
it regularly works against lesser teams. Problems arise when the opposition is just as strong as, or stronger than, the team employing those tactics.”
The great Australian cricketer further added that the induction of the Pakistan-born right-arm leg-spinner, Imran Tahir, prompted Smith to change his mentality and be more attacking.
"Smith's leadership style used to be similar to Strauss', but following the selection of legspinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-c64193 Tahir, he has been forced to use his imagination. Since then, his captaincy has been more proactive," Chappell added.
Tahir, who rose to the limelight during the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/PL-Harris-c2193, who was just considered to be a defensive option
for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Smith-c90598.
The second Test of the all-important series is going to commence on August 2, with the visitors having a massive psychological edge over the Poms.
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