South Africa are set to tour India to play three ODIs, starting from this Thursday. Proteas are in a good form in the limited-overs format and they are coming in after defeating Australia 3-0 at home. The conditions will be different in India and former wicket-keeper batsman Mark Boucher feels Faf du Plessis’s experience will help the team.
Du Plessis has vast experience and he is used to playing in the Indian conditions as he played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) several times. However, the former South Africa captain last played an ODI since the 2019 World Cup in England and he also had a poor T20I series against Australia. He scored 24, 15 and 5 respectively in the three-match T20I series.
“If you go to a place like India, you need to find a balance between youth and experience. I think Faf is really doing well in ODI cricket for South Africa. The last time he played, he got a hundred. He knows the Indian conditions very well,” Boucher said during the team’s pre-departure press conference.
Despite being not selected in the last ODI series against Australia, there is a high chances for Du Plessis to get a chance in the playing XI for the India series. And Boucher feels that having Du Plessis also means he will have some selection headaches, which is a good thing to have.
“It’s a good headache to have. Just him being around the squad will add a lot of value and experience as well. We will look at conditions and then put together combinations. Why you would want to have Faf is because he has done really well in those (Indian) conditions,” he added.
The hosts South Africa lost the T20I series 1-2 to Australia, but they fought back strongly in the ODI series and outplayed the men in yellow to clinch a 3-0 victory. Boucher believes the ODI series will give extra confidence ahead of the series against India.
“T20s are important this year given we have the T20 World Cup. But in general, Proteas and Cricket South Africa (CSA), we need to find ourselves growing. We have just beaten a very good team now. We needed confidence and it will certainly give us a lot of confidence,” he concluded.
Du Plessis had a rough 2019 with his side failing to qualify to the knock-out stage of the World Cup in England. He also stepped away from captaincy at the end of last year and then he was also dropped from the ODI squad. He will be finally making a comeback into the side through this series and it will be a tough challenge for him in the Indian conditions to prove himself and cement his spot in the team again.
