India Should Have A Practice Game In South Africa: Ajit Wadekar

Ajit Wadekar, the former India skipper, has opined that the Indian team should have played a warm-up tie against South Africa before the start of the international fixtures,

“You need to get adjusted to those wickets because of the bounce. With no practice games, it is going to be a little bit hard on our players. Ours is a balanced team though,” said Wadekar.

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Earlier, the BCCI had decided to cancel the practice game against South Africa Invitation XI, and instead, the team will undergo an intense practice session. BCCI will hire a ground for the players where a fast pitch will be prepared so as both, batsmen and bowlers could prepare well for the pitches which will be there during the Test, ODI and T20I series.

In fact, BCCI has also decided to carry four extra pace bowlers as a part of net bowlers contingent who would bowl to the Indian batsmen during the net sessions. The four net bowlers are Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Siraj and Basil Thampi.

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Team India already have five pacers in the squad in form of Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and a sixth option in the form of Hardik Pandya. Pacers will have a crucial role in the series.

Further, on being asked whether India could create history in South Africa this time, Wadekar said the team would be able to do well on the tour,

“At the moment, the (Indian) team is doing really well, they are very balanced team and they also have (enough) experience to play on any kind of tracks. Their past track record suggests that they seem to be in good form and they should be able to do well.”

The India tour of South Africa starts on January 5. The tour comprises a total of three Tests, six ODIs and three T20Is.

This will be the first time when Virat Kohli will lead the Indian team in South Africa. However, he has led the side in the home Test series which was played in the year 2015. India won the series by a margin of 3-0. The Indian team is though yet to win a Test series in South Africa till now.