Published: Sep 10, 2015, 02:49 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 15, 2015, 12:16 PM (IST)
Hashim Amla will lead the South African Test squad for their tour of India starting October 2 as Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced the 12-man squad on Thursday. The marathon “Gandhi-Mandela Series” that is expected to go on for at least 72 days will revive the relationship between both the cricket boards after Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) had cut short India’s tour of South Africa in 2013 for certain reasons. The 25-year old Dane Piedt who made his Test debut during the 2014 tour of Zimbabwe has been recalled for the same format after a gap of almost a year. Along with him, legbreak bowler Imran Tahir also got a call back in the Tests. READ: India vs South Africa 2015: South Africa annouce squads for Tests, ODIs and T20Is
According to CSA, selection convener said, “We want to keep all our options open for the Test Series,” commented CSA selection convener, Linda Zondi. “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.”
Zondi also confirmed that Dane Vilas would retain the gloves in this format. “It is very important that we maintain consistency in our selections and Dane hardly had the chance to make his mark in Bangladesh where the series was so badly disrupted by the weather.” READ: South Africa announce ODI, T20I squads for India series 2015
The itinerary for the tour was announced on July 2015 along with the venues. The limited overs games will be followed by Tests at Mohali (November 5-9), Bangalore (November 14-18), Nagpur (November 25-29) and the concluding match of the tour at Delhi from December 3 to 70.
South Africa Test squad: Hashim Amla(c), AB de Villiers (vc), Temba Bavuma, JP Faf du, Dean Elgar, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel ,Vernon Philander, Dane Piedt, Kagiso, Dale Steyn, Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas.
