BCCI, Virat Kohli
BCCI (credits - AFP)

The decision of the Indian team management to cancel the practice game ahead of the international fixtures looks like a great decision now, as it has been learnt the team management has asked BCCI to hire a ground in South Africa and prepare a fast pitch so, as Indian players can practice on it, a report in Mirror suggests.

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India's squad for SA tour 2018

As per the itinerary, the team would reach the country on December 28, a day ahead when the practice game was scheduled and the team would have had gone into the practice game hardly knowing about the conditions of the country. They have now decided to grasp as much as they can before the international fixtures begins on January 5.

The Indian batsmen would be at the focus, especially Virat Kohli, as this will be the first Test which the Indian team will play outside Asia (apart from the West Indies) since he has been appointed as the full-time Test captain – in the year 2014. The pressure will be on Kohli’s side, as the bouncy conditions in South Africa will test the abilities of the batsmen.

Team India already has five pacers in the 17-member squad in form of spearhead Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Sami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. Despite that, the team management has asked for four additional pacers so as they can bowl to the batsmen in the testing conditions during the net sessions.

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The four bowlers are Navdeep Saini, Avesh Khan, Basil Thmapi and Mohammed Siraj. The latter two are part of team India in the T20I series against Sri Lanka.

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SA vs IND 2017/18: BCCI To Hire a Ground with Quick Pitches for Practice
Photo credits: (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

These four bowlers will just not make the batsmen practice but will also share the workload with the fast bowlers, who will have to bowl more during series. Since, Indian pacers, suffer niggle on a timely basis, these four bowlers will give an opportunity to fast bowlers to take ample of rest as well.

The international fixtures on the South Africa tour start on January 5 with the first Test to be played from January 5 to 9. The second and third Test will start on January 13 and 24, respectively. The tour also includes a lengthy limited-overs series comprising of six ODIs and three T20Is.

The squad for the limited-overs series will be announced later, and if these four pacers are able to impress the team management, there can be the case when some of them might also get their name on the list for the limed-overs series.

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