NEW DELHI: Because the West Indian pitches are more consistent than the drop-in decks used in the US phase of the event, South African pacer Kagiso Rabada anticipates "competitive scores" in the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup.
Because of the excessive and inconsistent bounce that the 22-yard strip in New York provided to bowlers, run-making became a risky endeavor. The Super Eight matches would henceforth only take place in Caribbean locations.
"I do expect that conditions are going to level up because you had the drop-in pitches in the USA. You never really know how they're going to play," said Rabada on the eve of South Africa's final Group D match against Nepal at Kingstown in St Vincent.
"Now, you've actually got squares that have been there for years, here in these venues. And you'll probably see more competitive scores," he added.
According to PTI, Rabada said fair playing fields are necessary to guarantee a fair competition between the bat and the ball.
"You want to get a game and find pitches where you have enough in it for the bowlers and enough in it for the batters.
"That's essentially what a cricket game is. Otherwise, you might as well just call it batting or you might as well call it bowling," he explained.
To emphasize his point, the 29-year-old used the June 8 encounter between Australia and England in Barbados.
"You look at the game between Australia and England, where 200 played 150. So, if you bat well in these conditions, you can still reach 200," he said.
Rabada also had high hopes for the much-maligned South African batting team, which includes range-hitters like Tristan Stubbs and Heinrich Klaasen, to find their form in the Super Eight following their difficulties in the group stage.
"You can't really judge their form on wickets that we've just played on. As much as it's not an excuse, common sense would prevail. But in saying that, no one's got any demons.
"Everyone's moving forward. We play the conditions as we see them. And on our day, we know the sky's a limit in terms of batting," he elaborated.
The Lamichhane threat
Leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane of Nepal, who was recently declared not guilty of a rape allegation against him, is scheduled to play against the Proteas after arriving in St. Vincent. He was denied a US visa. He was added to the Nepal World Cup roster after the deadline, and the ICC has confirmed it.
Rabada stated that his hitters will have a difficult time countering a "mystery spinner" like Lamichhane.
"Yeah, he's a mystery spinner, so any mystery spinner is going to be tough to play. But I know the guys are really looking forward to facing that challenge," he added.
