Magala hopes not to stitch up IPL prospects while starring for Proteas

Still sporting stitches in the webbing between his right thumb and forefinger, Sisanda Magala knows every bit of cricket activity — whether at training or in a match — could prove very costly. 

One such moment arrived in Saturday’s brief 11-over match between the Proteas and West Indies in Centurion when the visiting team’s left-hand batter Nicholas Pooran struck a drive that screamed towards Magala in the covers. Instinct took over, he jumped to attempt the catch, but it blasted through his hands and went to the boundary. 

“You just have to try your best, to try to take the ball in such a way that you protect that area,” he explained. He has good reason to be a bit guarded of that injury. 

Next week Magala, 32, heads to India to take up a R1.1m contract with IPL franchise the Chennai Super Kings.

“Any wrong fielding of the ball could tear [the stitching] again and set me back 10 days,” he said. The Proteas still have another four matches to play before those players with IPL contracts, like Magala, head to India. 

It would be an extremely expensive injury and one that could rob him of a life-changing opportunity. “Anyone looking to specialise in white ball cricket, that's the pinnacle, to play in the IPL.”

The chance came his way after the New Zealand all-rounder, Kyle Jamieson, was forced to withdraw from this year’s competition because of a lower back stress problem. 

Magala drew the attention of the Super Kings through his starring role as part of the Sunrisers Eastern Cape who won the inaugural SA20. He claimed 14 wickets in that competition, the fifth-most; and in Saturday’s abbreviated encounter at SuperSport Park, which the West Indies won by three wickets, again illustrated his prowess with both bat and ball. 

After smashing 18 off five balls including two sixes, he then picked up 3/21, almost winning the game for the home team. “The batting was very nice, it was nice to return the favour to the bowlers, because you do get hit around a lot.”

Magala spent the majority of his stay at the crease in the company of David Miller with the pair adding 49 runs off just 19 balls in their seventh-wicket partnership. Miller made 48 off 22 balls. “David is a very calming presence, he speaks optimistically, he’s a very positive guy and that rubs off on you.”

Magala thought he had a hat-trick in the penultimate over of the match, but TV replays showed Roston Chase had missed the ball with his bat and instead it had deflected off his helmet to point. Nevertheless, albeit a shortened match, it showed just how valuable a player Magala could be for the Proteas and next month, the Super Kings.

“It was chaotic. A shortened game is a tough one to plan, there are really no set patterns like in a normal T20, so we made decisions on the fly and backed those.”

As for the journey to India, Magala admitted he was both excited and nervous.

“My mother lives in Uitenhage, so it's a long way from home. I’m very nervous. It’s going to be two months — I haven’t been away from home for that long.

“It’s new. I’ve asked a couple of guys who’ve played there how they coped and just their advice to handle situations.  It’s a huge opportunity.”