SA v SL 2019: Faf du Plessis in praise of Imran Tahir after the first ODI

Faf himself scored a fine hundred but Tahir got 3/26 to ensure his team a manageable target of 232.

Imran Tahir has been fantastic for South Africa | Getty

Faf du Plessis felt relieved to have finally seen his team win a game against Sri Lanka after that disappointing result in the Test series. The South African skipper actually lauded hosts' all-round performance that helped them script a comfortable victory in the first ODI at Jo'burg on Sunday (March 3). 

"I thought we played very well," said Faf during the post-match presentation ceremony. "We won an important toss. And to chase it down like that, against Sri Lanka's spinners on a slow wicket, I think that was pretty good."

Proteas were able to restrict the visitors for a modest first innings total of 231/10 in 47 overs before Du Plessis got some help from Quinton de Kock (81) on his way to a very fine 11th ODI hundred and chased it all down with still eight wickets and 73 balls left. The captain was later awarded "Player-of-the-Match" for his efforts. 

But it is the bowling line-up which played a massive role in shaping up this result. Special praise must go to Imran Tahir for his fantastic spell that resulted in match figures of 3/26 on the day. 

"Imran has been my biggest weapon over the years," Faf acknowledged. "He is so hard to face when he is bowling to new batters and that makes the wickets with the new ball even more important."

"Imran in the middle overs is a handful if he is bowling to five and six, so early strikes are very useful for us."

Du Plessis then talked about De Kock and said, "If Quinton is scoring runs, he always puts the bowlers under pressure. It's nice to bat with him, he makes the flow really easy."

The second ODI of the five-match series will be played on Wednesday, March 6 in Centurion. 

(Inputs from AFP)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 04 Mar, 2019

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