T20 can be mentally hard for bowlers: Dale Steyn

New Zealand’s strategy to play three spinners against India in the opening match of the upper 10 stage of the World T20 paid off big time as they won the game pretty easily. This chance taken by the Kiwis received appreciation from everywhere, South Africa’s premier fast bowler Dale Steyn also agrees with it.

“I guess New Zealand thinking was correct. Playing with three spinners paid off. We would probably go with spin, I don’t know. But as a seamer, I have to back myself. Bowl fast cutters. It is really difficult to hit out when the ball is coming at 140-145, its gripping and stopping,” Steyn told reporters on the sidelines of his team’s practice session at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.

India batsmen had tumbled for just 79 runs batting in reply to New Zealand’s target of 127 runs on a rank turner at Nagpur. BlackCaps skipper Kane Willamson opted to bench two of his best bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult along with Mitchell McClenaghan to play Mitchell Santner, Nathan McCullum, and Ish Sodhi. The trio of spinner delivered to their skipper’s expectation which resulted in a stunning victory for their team.

It is obvious that most of the pitches in WT20 could be spinner-friendly but this factor doesn’t worry, Dale Steyn.  His words can be believed as he is one of the pace bowlers who has been immensely successful in Indian conditions.

“Well, I can bowl on any surface. I kind of prefer pitches that are slightly slow and turning. The ball stops and makes it tougher for batsmen to come out and hit you out of the park,” he said.

“As a seamer, I back myself to bowl fast cutters at around 140-145km/hr, making it difficult for batters to hit me. If the ball is gripping and stopping, you don’t have to worry about bowling the perfect yorker. You may just come and bowl a back of the length ball and it might bounce or skid. One may stay low, so it makes it interesting,” he averred.

Steyn plays in all the three formats for the Proteas and states that playing the shortest format id ‘mentally hard.’

“The T20 can be mentally hard. Being a bowler, you have only four overs. If you got an edge it can go for a four, that’s not your fault, whereas in a Test match you have five days to make up for it. South Africa has never won an ICC tournament and when asked about it. That doesn’t give us any pressure,”he quipped

“We have obviously been a powerhouse team for a long time and it is disappointing to fans all over the world that we have not won one. So we would like to win one. We are well prepared as possibly as we can, we have some of the best players in the world. “T20 is a strange game, anybody in the top seven teams can win…we respect the other guys. We have seen it happen so many times in the past. Netherlands beating England in the past, they almost beat us in the last World Cup. This is a format where anybody can win it,” he said

Steyn had suffered a shoulder injury faced a difficult time recovering from it. However, he says that he is now fully fit and things were coming up nicely.

“I am fit and fine. Wasn’t a lot of injuries, just two injuries. The first one was a groin, just probably a week-10 days, but I made a rush, trying to get into the Test match (against India) in Bangalore, which put me back another four weeks, which put me out of the series. “I had a really bad shoulder and unfortunately I could not come out too quickly from that. When you have a broken shoulder, you have to set it for 8-10 weeks. It is not that I was injured the entire time; I had a really bad shoulder. Now I am feeling strong, fine. It’s nice to be back in India. Played a couple of games against Australia, two warm-up games. It’s coming up nicely,” Steyn said.

“Our management is good with me, I have never really (being) pushed to do anything more than what my body requires. I have played a handful of ODIs. Just over 110, whereas someone like Brett Lee played close to 300 ODIs at this stage of his career. I have been handled well, managed well, I also made good decisions, sometimes it is against me, pulling out of tournaments, series. I have been bowling with same speed all my career. I am still landing the bowl at same place, I guess it is working,” he added.