India, South Africa New Year’s Test likely from Jan 5
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa and India are believed to be close to an agreement on a schedule for a tour of South Africa in January and February. According to the Espncricinfo website, it is expected that the first of a possible four Test matches will start on January 5 or 6, three or four days later than South Africa’s traditional preferred start on the January 2 holiday.
CSA communications manager Altaaf Kazi confirmed that negotiations were advanced. “We are engaging with them and are planning for a full tour,” he said.
The original plan was for four Tests, three one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals. CSA wanted the first Test to start on December 26 but India have a home series against Sri Lanka ending on December 24 and want to spend time in South Africa, and play a warm-up match, before the start of the Test series.
Negotiations have been complicated by the fact that Australia will be playing four Tests in South Africa, starting on March 1, which makes the time frame for the India tour a tight one. There has been speculation that the India Test series may be reduced to three matches.
CAPTAIN’S BACKING
“It’s the captain’s confidence and Virat should get a lot of credit for it because he’s put a lot of faith in Dhoni and that allowed MS to play the way he wanted.”
With 627 runs in 19 games at an average of 89.57, Dhoni has had a strong 2017 with the bat. What’s more pleasing is the way the former skipper has compiled his innings when the top-order has failed to get going.
A veteran of 302 ODIS, Dhoni marked his comeback to his ‘second home Chennai’ with a calculated 79 that saved India from early jitters and guided them to a 26-run win (D/L Method) in the rain-hit first ODI against Australia on Sunday. This was his 66th half-century in ODIS and 100th in international cricket.
Also, against England earlier this year, India were reduced to 25/3 in an ODI in Cuttack before MS Dhoni’s 134 and Yuvraj Singh’s 14th ton powered them to 381/6. The hosts won the nailbiter by 15 runs and also sealed the three-match series.
In the away series against West Indies, it was Dhoni’s unbeaten 79-ball 78 that propelled India to 251/4 on a tough Antigua track. Dhoni struck four fours and two sixes during his essay as the visitors scored 51 runs in the last four overs.
If this wasn’t enough, then his heroics against Sri Lanka proved he knows how to get the job done by remaining unbeaten in all the four knocks he played in the island nation.
“Players are made and players are broken by the faith you show in them. And I think Virat Kohli is responsible for what we are seeing of MS Dhoni today,” Ganguly added.
He also heaped praise on Hardik Pandya, who hit a careerbest 83 off 66 deliveries and raised a 118-run partnership with Dhoni. The Baroda allrounder then claimed the crucial wickets of Steve Smith and Travis Head to undermine Australia’s chase.
“He’s (Pandya) getting better and that’s the best part of it. You can see the confidence, because of the performance with the bat, in his bowling. If you do well in one aspect of the game you automatically get better in the other aspect,” said Ganguly.
“He’s got to think big because the job of an all-rounder is not easy. He’s fit, he works hard and for him the role model should be Jacques Kallis. I’m not comparing him with Kallis but he should start looking at putting in performances over a period of 10 years in all formats because he’s got the ability.”