South Africa today announced their Tests, ODI and T20I squads for the 72-day-long tour of India, starting on October 2.
In view of the tracks that they will be offered, the national selectors have decided to include three specialist spinners in the Test squad for the Gandhi – Mandela series.
Simon Harmer who played in the series against Bangladesh will be joined by Imran Tahir and Dane Peidt.
CSA selection convener, Linda Zondi said, “We want to keep all our options open for the Test Series,”
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We also have JP Duminy as an option in this department and I believe we have covered all our bases by having both holding and attacking spin options in our squad. It is good to have Dane back from his injury and Imran was our No. 1 spinner for our last Test series on the sub-continent against Sri Lanka.
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Dane Vilas would take up the wicket keeping duties in the Test format.
Imran Tahir returns to the T20I squad in the place of Aaron Phangiso along with Chris Morris returning into both ODI and T20I squad. Lanky pacer Marchant de Lange also finds a place in the limited over squads.
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The tour to India is a very long one, It lasts for more than two months and we can’t expect Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel to field too heavy a workload. Chris comes back after a spell out through injury while Marchant has done well at the IPL
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Zondi said.
Rilee Rossouw has been ruled out of the T20I squad but is likely to return in time for the ODI series. Apart from that there were no major changes to the Proteas line up that played versus Bangladesh. South Africa will play 3 T20 Internationals, 5 ODIs and 4 Test matches in a high-profile series. The Proteas will play a T20 tour game on September 30 in New Delhi. India are likely to announce their limited over squads on the 18th of this month.
Test squad:
Hashim Amla (c), AB de Villiers, Temba Bavuma, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar , Simon Harmer, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas.
ODI squad:
AB de Villiers (c), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn
T20I squad:
Faf du Plessis (c), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Marchant de Lange, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Eddie Leie, David Miller, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, David Wiese, Khaya Zondo.