India gearing up for South Africa tour in the midst of series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754
With just a day left behind in the ODI series against New Zealand, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 is focusing more on its tour of South Africa which gets underway in the second half of next month. A BCCI official revealed that the head coach accompanied by few senior players would
leave for South Africa a bit earlier.
"He [http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gary-Kirsten-c58527] will leave early along with first bunch 8 to 10 players," said the official.
The bunch includes both batsmen as well as bowlers. The predicted batters among the above mentioned 8-10 players include skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rahul-c83321 Dravid
and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772. While the spearhead pacer Zaheer Khan, prolific spinner Harbhajan Singh and the uncapped Jaydev Unadkat are the bowlers expected to pack their bags for an early departure to South Africa. Cheteshwar Pujara and Suresh Raina are also expected
to be part of the lot leaving earlier.
While the complete Indian squad is expected to gather by the 12th of December, the above mentioned bunch would be in South Africa by the 8th of next month. Seven of the 10 players would fly on the 6th
of December while the coach Kirsten accompanied by Harbhajan and Dhoni would reach South Africa on 8th. The three are also expected to be joined by Raina as well in the same flight.
The early departure means the above mentioned players would miss the last two One Day Internationals against on tour Kiwis, scheduled to be played on 7th and 10th of next month. In the absence of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 based Indian head coach,
India's bowling coach Eric Simons would be responsible for coaching the side.
Sending the coach and the players to South Africa a bit earlier is the part of India’s acclimatisation plan as the tourists would not play even a single warm-up game ahead of the three-match Test series starting in Centurion on 16th of December.
"We have a lot of work still to do on the specifics of technique prior to the Test series. The players will need time to adjust their techniques to get comfortable with the conditions," said Kirsten . "The BCCI has approved the early departure of some our
players to South Africa to have sufficient time to prepare properly for a very important series."
India will play three Test matches followed by a five-match one day series during the six week long tour of South Africa. A solitary T20 game will also be sandwiched between the two formats.
Tags: