Dhoni’s Men Gear Up For T20 in Dharamsala

They have got some new young players and they are very good. Probably, the question mark was there from the management point of view. He trains hard and fits in beautifully into our team.

“I suppose we do understand what is required to do well in these conditions because of the vast number of experienced players we have in our squad”, he added, on the eve of their only practice game – against a Board President’s XI – here on Tuesday. That will most certainly help South Africa throughout this series because they haven’t done too well on their recent away tours. AB de Villiers, one of the best batsman in the world, has come out to open the batting with Quinton de Kock. South Africa will hope the problems Miller had with his positioning at the crease have not.

The glowing praise of IPL should obviously make the Indian cricket administrators happy but on the flip side, the Indians would also do well to take a leaf out of the South African book – on the smooth running of teams across the three formats with three different captains, who are all regulars in all the teams. Hussey has joined the Proteas squad who are now touring India.

Du Plessis, South Africa’s T20 captain, started his global career as the angry young man Kohli has built his caricature around but is swiftly moving towards the more sage-like sensibility of Dhoni.

The team will undergo a rigorous physical fitness training to prepare for the first Twenty20 global, scheduled for October 2. “When you get there at the beginning of your career, the fans can be quite intimidating”, du Plessis said. Especially, the three spinners Yuzvendra Chahal, Pawan Negi and Kuldeep Yadav would fancy their chances ahead of the World T20, as none of the spinners save Ravichandran Ashwin is assured of his place in the T20 format. Both the uncapped Khaya Zondo and allrounder Chris Morris will have to follow suit.

Another injured South African player Rilee Rossouw has been ruled out of the limited overs matches of the series with an injured foot. South Africa’s middle-order will need them to be solid if it is serious about competing for the World T20 and it won’t take Hussey to tell them that.