India’s bowling experience made the difference: Gibson

India won the final T20I encounter against South Africa at Johannesburg by seven runs and clinched the series 2-1. Though a stunning late charge from debutant Christiaan Jonker almost handed the hosts a dramatic win but brilliant bowling display in the powerplay and death overs by Indian bowlers restricted the Proteas batsmen to 165.

New Delhi: India won the final T20I encounter against South Africa at Johannesburg by seven runs and clinched the series 2-1. Though a stunning late charge from debutant Christiaan Jonker almost handed the hosts a dramatic win but brilliant bowling display in the powerplay and death overs by Indian bowlers restricted the Proteas batsmen to 165.

After the loss South Africa coach Ottis Gibson hailed the performance of the Indian bowlers and asserted that experience in the bowling department was the main difference between the two teams.

“India have got (Jasprit) Bumrah and (Bhuvneshwar) Kumar, two very experienced players. We have got Chris Morris and Junior Dala, who made his debut. The experience they have of playing not just for India but also playing 3 or 4 years of IPL cricket has shown in the end,” Gibson said.

South African pair of Chris Morris and Junior Dala shared five wickets amongst them in the final encounter but the duo proved expensive. Coach Gibson revealed that the bowlers lacked consistency and was critical on the line and lengths bowled to the Indian batsmen. Gibson also mentioned that the experience will serve as a learning curve for the entire unit.

"While Junior held his own, Morris has a lot of work to do. He is a match winner for us but he needs more consistency in his bowling. He is short of that. He just needs to figure out what type of bowler he is and what he wants to become. This is the conversation I had with him. He will go back to playing some domestic cricket before playing the IPL.

Hampered by the absence of senior players such as AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis due to injuries South Africa were forced to bring in fresh faces in the limited over series. Gibson explained that though the youngsters struggled to adapt to the standards of international cricket but the team has found a great bunch of talent.

“We have seen exciting new players in the ODIs. Lungi Ngidi made a debut, Klassen too and he has been excellent. Dala in this T20 series was also very good, and we saw a little bit of Jonker. He was good too. The new guys came in (during ODIs) and the intensity they had to perform at, well, they were not used to it, and weren't able to adapt quickly enough to it. But you look at the future then, and looking at them, it seems the future will be bright.