Corbin Bosch: "Pressure is a privilege" for South Africa's death-over specialist

Much like India's left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Axar Patel, Bosch offers balance with both bat and ball, particularly with his effective spells at the death overs. On a gloomy Wednesday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Bosch lived up to that billing by returning figures of 3-12 to help South Africa restrict the UAE to 122/6.

On a tacky Delhi surface, which was used before for India-Namibia and Canada-UAE games, South Africa's pacers quickly found short or short-of-good-length as their spot to hit and trouble the Emirati batters, conceding only 41 runs and taking four wickets, which set the base for them to end their league stage as the lone unbeaten team from Group D.

The back-end phase featured more short balls and cutters from the Proteas, with Bosch striking across phases and finishing as their most economical bowler. He dismissed Aryansh Sharma and Muhammad Arfan with pulls to midwicket, before extracting bounce to have UAE's middle order hero Sohaib Khan nicking behind.

Bosch's record in the death overs remains notable, especially with the Proteas set to take on India in the Super Eights clash in Ahmedabad on Sunday. In death overs in T20s, Bosch's 39 scalps have come in overs 17-20, where he operates at an economy rate of nine and a strike rate of 12.6.

"It's definitely not fun. But I think it is a privilege. Pressure is a privilege, and it's one of the skill sets that, if you can master it, goes a really, really long way. I'm just privileged to be a part of this set-up, and anything I can possibly do for the team, I'll gladly put my hand up and do. It's something that I've done for a long time. Still getting better at it, and still trying to find ways that I can upskill myself, and it's something I do enjoy," he said in the post-match press conference.

Last year, after South Africa ended their 4-1 T20I series loss to India in Ahmedabad, head coach Shukri Conrad had expressed happiness over three of their four group stage matches happening at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Moreover, two of their three Super Eight games will happen at the same venue, and it's something which Bosch felt had great value in adjusting to conditions. "We've had the luxury of the conditions and assessing the field and game plans moving forward. I think the planning will now go towards individuals rather than a team perspective, and as a team, how we want to operate," he said.

Asked who among the batters in the Indian line-up will pose a great challenge, Bosch remained tight-lipped. "Their whole batting line-up is destructive. So all of them. I'm not going to pick one."

Being the fourth pillar in the Proteas wheel of fast bowling, Bosch has the luxury of inflicting further damage after Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, and Marco Jansen come into the bowling attack. With Ngidi and Jansen being rested for Wednesday's game, Anrich Nortje and Kwena Maphaka seamlessly slotted into the line-up.

"It's a privilege to be with a team with such incredible fast bowlers, and there's still Anrich on the side. So I think it's a luxury, but it comes with the same standards between the entire bowling lineup, which is really, really high. It's something we feed off each other.

"I think this is the first time we've all played as a collective, so it's still getting to know how we operate as a unit. But we've done fantastically so far, and there's no extra pressure. It's exciting because you have the luxury to watch some of the best fast bowlers in the world," he added.

Though South Africa dropped four catches, Bosch signed off by saying that it was better if this happened now rather than occurring in the business end of the competition.

"It is something that happens, and I would rather have it happen now. I also dropped one and wasn't my best, but again, it's not our standards. But it will probably be addressed a little bit later. We are a much better fielding unit than that, so I do think we'll have to lift it, especially in the Super Eights, like every chance we have to take. So we'll have to be on our best."

- IANS