Hashim Amla hopes runs are around the corner

NAGPUR: Hashim Amla was unstoppable five years ago. The Indian bowlers found it hard to beat his broad blade. He took the game away with a marathon double hundred in Nagpur and then almost took the series when he nearly saved the Kolkata Test.
This time, though, it's different story. Amla's own form with the bat has been ordinary. "I would have liked to get more runs in the one-dayers and Tests so far.Hopefully, the runs will come. We've got two big Tests to deal with," Amla said on the eve of the third Test.
South Africa are on the verge of losing their status as the best travelers in the world. Their batsmen have had a torrid time against the Indian spinners led by R Ashwin. It's the batting, which has been the Achilles Heel for South Africa. There's hardly anything on the board for their bowlers to defend. There have been suggestions coming from all quarters, but the South African captain feels if they win in Nagpur, normalcy will be restored.
"When a team doesn't score runs, a lot of theories will be put out. In the first game, we bowled India out for 200. Had we won that Test, this question would have probably been thrown to India. So you've got to take things in perspective. Their spinners have bowled well, and it was probably the lack of turn that got us out. As a batter when you see a ball turn, it does make you aware that the ball is turning, but when you leave one and it doesn't turn, you don't look too good," Amla explained.
Amla acknowledged that they haven't been playing up to their potential. "We haven't played our best Test cricket. If one goes back in the past, at Mohali I'd definitely say that in the first three innings, we were definitely in it. If India got bowled out for 200, and we got bowled out for 187, I think it's a fair reflection that the game was pretty poised up until the last innings, in which we didn't do too well, obviously. In the first day in the last Test, we didn't bat well again. So it hasn't been our full-flowing Test cricket that we're normally used to," he said.
South Africa are known to play attacking cricket but the lack of runs from the batters means they are always on the backfoot. "In the first game, we had five frontline bowlers, which for me was a very attacking option. You need 20 wickets to win the Test match, which we managed to do. The issue has been with the lack of runs more than the wickets, so hopefully we get the runs on the board and continue to play the game till the end," he said.