‘Under radar’ Proteas could be timing World Cup challenge perfectly: Pollock

South African cricketing legend Shaun Pollock believes his compatriots could be timing their run to perfection in a bid for the ICC T20 World Cup trophy in Australia.

Speaking on the latest ICC Review with Brian Murgatroyd after SA’s victory over India on Monday, Pollock, one of the event’s commentators, said he feels his former team is happy to go “under the radar”.

The side shared points with Zimbabwe in their rained-out first outing, but have shown their credentials with an emphatic win over Bangladesh at the SCG, before backing it up with a tight final-over victory against India in Perth.

Pollock feels the Proteas are contenders for the trophy, though this may not have been perceived to be the case before the tournament.

“That they've come in with people maybe not writing them up as much as they could, I think there’s definitely been an effect of SA trending in the right direction," he said.

“We’ve seen them over the past 18 months start to show a little bit of firepower, and some grit and determination.”

Taking 408 international white-ball wickets, of which 15 came in 12 T20 appearances at the back end of his career, Pollock is a good judge of bowling talent across the competition and rates the SA attack up there with the best.

“Bowling-wise I’ve never been concerned [for SA]. We’ve got plenty of fast-bowling options.

“You even got a [Marco] Jansen sitting on the sidelines, the four quicks that they used [in Perth], plus [Keshav] Maharaj and [Tabraiz] Shamsi.

“We’ve got all bases covered there.”

Despite the undefeated start, the former all-rounder feels the Proteas are not the finished product and looks for stronger output from the batting department to solidify SA’s bid.

“I think the challenge for SA has always been, ‘which are the six or seven who are going to come good from a batting perspective?’

“And it was a huge blow to lose Rassie van der Dussen before the tournament because he had played superbly well.”

“I can still see a possibility of an improvement. As I say, this victory [over India] is a huge boost.”

Though there is one glaring issue in SA’s side that isn’t up to the mark yet — skipper Temba Bavuma’s poor run of form with bat in hand.

Pollock likened the malaise to Australian skipper Aaron Finch, who managed to find a groove against Ireland in Brisbane on Monday, making a half-century.

“It’s a shame, you feel for the guy,” Pollock said.

“From a captaincy perspective, he is obviously manoeuvring his troops as best he possibly can, but there’s not one captain in the world who doesn’t like to lead from the front with regards to performance, and he hasn’t been able to hit his straps.

“The pressure for him is no doubt building. He’s an individual. He’s a human being. He understands what he wants.

“He would love nothing better than to have a little match-winning 40 or 50, and to take his team over the line and win a couple of games.”

SA face a desperate Pakistan on Thursday and their opponents will be keen to notch a victory after narrow losses to India and Zimbabwe at the start of the Super 12 stage.

Pollock believes SA’s result against India will galvanise the team and the Proteas great jokingly found silver linings in the rain clouds that again threatened his former team’s chances.

“We’re probably the best ones to validate that small margins can have a big difference.

“And [against India] ... small margins went for SA,” he said.

“Maybe because the first game was rained out against Zimbabwe meant we got a rain encounter with the World Cup over early and we can just have some good weather going forward.” — icc-cricket.com