Indo-Asian News Service
Krishnagiri (Kerala), August 17: On a high after the tri-series final win over the Aussies, India A will aim to take their recent form into the longer format when they take on South Africa A in their first four-day match which starts at the Krishnagiri Cricket Stadium here Tuesday.
Before the tri-series, India A had played a couple of four-day matches against Australia A and lost one of those. But that debacle should not play on the hosts’ minds who will be lead by Ambati Rayadu. The Rahul Dravid-coached side will aim to look at the upcoming game as a fresh start and deliver their best.
Apart from Rayudu, Karun Nair, Abhinav Mukund and Shreyas Iyer will hold the key in the batting department.
Medium-pacer Ishwar Pandey, young right-arm spinner Baba Aparajith, Axar Patel, Karn Sharma and Abhimanyu Mithun will be the strengths as far as the team’s bowling is concerned. Pandey, who has 139 wickets from 35 first-class matches will lead the pace attack.
On the other hand, the Proteas ruined their tour when 10 of their players were hospitalised due to food poisoning during the tri-series. It was one of the reasons they did not perform well, and the Proteas will aim to fix the damage by bringing in their best in the longer format.
Their batting will depend heavily on skipper Dane Vilas, Temba Bavuma and Theunis de Bruyn. The experienced Marchant de Lange, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Beuran Hendricks and all-rounder David Wiese are likely to form the fast bowling line-up.
With both sides looking balanced but lacking international exposure, they will bank on their first-class experience to perform and put up a good show in the series.