South Africa warm up for testing India tour
South Africa open their tough and testing 72-day long tour of India on Tuesday with a T20 warm-up match against India A at the Palam ground in New Delhi.
The tourists will play three T20 Internationals followed by five One-Day Internationals and four Tests in what will be their longest-ever tour of India. The opening T20 International will be at Dharamsala on October 2.
For the visitors, who arrived on Sunday, Faf du Plessis will lead the T20 side, AB de Villiers the One-Day International team while Hashim Amla will captain the Test side.
Along with the captains in the three formats, only senior batsman JP Duminy and spinner Imran Tahir will feature across all formats during the tour.
“Yeah, I will be honest that I was quite surprised when I heard that we will be playing in Dharamsala first,” Du Plessis told a media conference while speaking about the T20 International series.
“Dharamsala has a nice wicket with good pace and bounce. We would be looking to use those conditions with our quick bowlers,” said Du Plessis, who played at the venue during the Indian Premier League.
Meanwhile, South Africa coach Russell Domingo said he would be banking on his fast bowlers during the series.
“Indians are very good players of spin, we know that. Our fast bowlers have always been successful whenever South Africa have toured India. Although spin is going to be a very big factor in this series, it's important that our seamers start going for us," Domingo told a media conference.
“We have got very good spinners in the experienced Imran Tahir and two young spinners in Dane Piedt and Simon Harmer. It would be a great experience for them to play against these (Indian) players under these conditions in high pressure environment. But like I said, the seamers have done the business for us around the world and I expect them to play a big part under these conditions as well.”
