Batting great AB de Villiers has showered praise on Keegan Petersen, who went on to play a gutsy 72-run knock in the ongoing third Test between South Africa and India at Newlands in Cape Town. After Jasprit Bumrah dismissed the openers early in the second innings of the series decider, Petersen spearheaded South Africa’s comeback which led them to score 213 runs, leaving the visitors a paltry 13 run-lead.
On Wednesday, De Villiers praised Petersen for keeping the highly regarded Indian speed assault at bay. He penned on Twitter, “The long and the short is Keegan Petersen CAN play! I’m very excited with the composure, skill and technique I’ve seen against one of the best attacks in the world.”
The long and the short is Keegan Petersen CAN play! I’m very excited with the composure, skill and technique I’ve seen against one of the best attacks in the world.— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) January 12, 2022
Petersen’s resilience was ultimately ended after tea when Bumrah took his 4th wicket of the day, bringing a stop to what had been Peterson’s highest score in Test cricket. Following that, the seamers wrapped the tail with considerable ease. Petersen, who made his Test debut last year, has only played four Tests, but his performance already has the cricket fraternity talking about him. The 28-year-old made a critical 62 in the first innings of South Africa’s 7-wicket victory in the Johannesburg Test.
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The 28-year-old believes his team is aware that they are falling behind on runs according to the batting plan devised by coach Mark Boucher. He went on to say that Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, who scored 43 and 79 in the first innings, have been a bit of a headache for the squad and that it would be brilliant if the South African seamers could get them out early in the second innings.
“We are a bit behind the eight-ball now going into day three. If we pick up a few early wickets tomorrow morning, it’ll be key,” said Petersen after the match, as reported by Sport 24. He added, “I think we sold ourselves a bit short on runs. If we could get past the deficit and have a bit of the lead, we would’ve been happy.”
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