India will be the real test for our spinners: Peterson

NEW DELHI - South African left-arm spinner Robin Peterson, who was part of the spinners trio that bamboozled the West Indies, says the biggest test of the slower bowlers will be against home team India.

South Africa played three spinners in Peterson, offie Johan Botha and Pakistan born leg-spinner Imran Tahir and the strategy worked.

“The challenge is against quality batsman, especially against the Indian batsmen who play spin the best. To come up against them and really perform, you know where you are in terms of your own level. That’s a massive challenge,” said Peterson.

“We have done well against India in the past and there is no reason why we can’t do it again. We just got to keep things simple against them.”

South Africa will take on India March 12 in Nagpur.

Asked about the roles of each spinner, Peterson said: “We all got different roles to perform. We are selected for a particular reason and gameplan,” he said.

Peterson said he is surprised that South Africa did not use spiners more often in the past.

“I don’t know why they did not use spinners a lot more, probably they just relied only on pacers. The mindset has changed now. Now we have three quality spinners who can perform at this level and they are confident enough.

“In the subcontinent, you have the best conditions for your bowling. It’s a big challenge for spinners to bowl in South Africa. Here we can be an attacking option. All three spinners in the squad will love it.”

He lavished praise on Imran, who claimed four wickets against West Indies on his ODI debut.

“Imran and I have come a long way. I played against him in under-19 cricket. Imran and I get along very well. He knows his game, I give whatever international experience I can share but he knows what he has to do. He is a class act.”

South Africa’s bowling coach Vincent Barnes said they will look at the conditions and decide on the three spinner option.

“It will be an option but that does not mean it would be the only option. Obviously we got to look at the conditions in the matches coming up. We have got a couple of day matches, obviously morning and freshness of wicket do come into play. We have one in Mohali.”