The Indian squad led by Virat Kohli will be high on confidence when they will face South African cricket team in the first T20 International of the three-match series with their 5-1 win in the six-match ODI series. The visitors will look to continue their supremacy by starting the T20I series on a winning note.
On the other hand, Proteas squad will aim to bounce back in the game by starting the series with a win.
The opening T20I between Men-in-Blue and Proteas team will be played at Johannesburg on Sunday.
In the T20I series, Proteas team have included six new players and their skipper JP Duminy believes that the new faces and new format will help them.
“I think the new faces will help. It is something that we spoke about this morning (Saturday) that we will feed off the freshness of new faces around. The format is different. It is a quicker and more aggressive format. And it will naturally bring out the best in us,” said Proteas captain Duminy.
“I am excited to be able to lead. I think leadership naturally brings out the best in me and I enjoy the experience of leading people. I am quite excited by it,” Duminy added.
While talking about their loss in ODI series, JP Duminy said, “Yes, it has been a dismal one-day series for us where India have outplayed us. That’s something that we will have to take on the chin and realise that we are far from a finished article going into the World Cup a year from now. I think it’s a great reality check for us. It is about each and every player seeing themselves in the mirror and how they can improve, to try and stake a claim for that 15-man squad in a year’s time.”
“If I look at Pink Day’s shortened game, the platform was set for almost T20 style of play. I think that type of mindset brought out the best in us. So I am quite excited to see how we go about it in terms of this format now,” said Duminy.
“Irrespective of who we come up against, I still believe that with new faces around plus guys who have been in the ODI series, it is a squad that can definitely win the series. So the aim is to always compete and win the series, no matter who we come up against.”
“The plan is not only to contain them but to try and get them out especially in this format. Your aim is always going to be to try and take wickets. Wickets will reduce the runs on board and with that mindset, we have good plans in place and hopefully it works out for us,” JP Duminy added.