Suryakumar Yadav Press Conference: How SKY Trolled Indo-Pak Rivalry
Ahead of South Africa’s Group D match against the UAE at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Albie was asked if he had exchanged notes with Morne. “No, we don’t talk. I think my mother is more scared than us. She doesn’t know who to support, India or South Africa.”With the Proteas already through to the Super Eights, Albie stressed there was a greater challenge ahead.“I think the World Cup is really starting now, even though we had a tough group. Now in our group you face India, maybe Australia or Zimbabwe and the West Indies. So it’s really tough. It’s going to be just good games. Yes, there will be more pressure on those games because you move towards the play-offs later on.”“But I feel we have a very experienced group of bowlers and the batting is better, so the guys who have been exposed to that, whether it’s the IPL or other leagues or in international cricket, are a bit different. But the guys who can handle that pressure – they’ll actually thrive in those conditions where there’s a bit more pressure on the games – so don’t worry too much,” he added.Cautious about raising expectations after finishing second in 2024, he said: “I don’t like to comment on that. I think we were in a very tough group. That game against Afghanistan still gives me nightmares and it could have turned out anyway.”“So now I think the first box is ticked – get to the next stage. For me now the World Cup starts. Every game will be a tough game and luckily we’ll be back in Ahmedabad where we’re kind of used to the conditions now – so we’ll see.”Albie, who was brought into the South African set-up specifically for the tournament, previously worked as an assistant coach for Namibia and as Bangladesh’s power-hitting coach. Reflecting on his current role, he said: “It’s been an interesting term, the consultant. I’ve had to figure it out a bit on my own. But I think that’s all that’s needed to make the team do well in the World Cup. So do a little bit of both, batting and fielding, just focus on the bowling for now and work with the lower order batsmen, around their swing and things like that.”Now that he is watching the game from the sidelines, he also spoke about shaping his coaching philosophy, which was heavily influenced by Stephen Fleming during his time with Chennai Super Kings.“In the beginning when I started my coaching career, you still train as a player. If you want to change something, but you can’t be on the pitch and you have to accept it and find ways because the players are under pressure anyway. If you want to change their games all the time as a coach, it still doesn’t help.”“So it’s kind of finding the middle ground where you try to help, but as a coach you also don’t put pressure on the players because they know what they’re doing. If it’s real technical stuff, you can work on it, but not during the tournament.”“My philosophy is that once you hit the World Cup like that and you start messing with the technical stuff, that’s when you confuse the players or the players can get confused. So it’s more about how can I really take the pressure off the guys, get them to believe in themselves and stuff? Stephen was a big influence on that.”“He’s one of the few coaches, or maybe the only coach in the world, who’s been with the franchise for 17 years. That’s unheard of and it must mean he’s doing something right. I’ll definitely learn a lot from him, yes,” he concluded.